Contrary to what many others do during Holy Week, like an outing, Pag-asa went on a Visita Iglesia.
But before that, we sent out invitations through Pag-asa’s official group chat.
Even if we know that Holy Week is supposedly the time to meditate on Jesus’s suffering, death, and resurrection, many of us ignore that fact and continue with our “tradition” of a family outing. We have nothing against going on an outing as long as we can meditate on the former before that.
Visita Iglesia is missing from our bucket list, but we are glad we did it together for the first time.
Before leaving for the first church, we distributed a guide leaflet for Visita Iglesia, assigned leaders for the readings, and reminded everyone that this activity is not leisure. We should only adore the Blessed Sacrament and not pray other devotions or present petitions and desires to be granted by the Lord because of the devotion or sacrifice made. If we do that, our Visita Iglesia may not lead us to praise the Lord, who is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.
We did pray our intentions outside the Visita Iglesia hour at the second church we visited during the scheduled Maundy Thursday mass.
Despite the heat, we enjoyed this 14-hour activity through the Lord’s goodness. He showed us places most of us have seen and reached for the first time. We saw the back side of Taal Lake, which is hidden from Tagaytay. The sun was at its peak, but our eyes feasted on the beauty of the volcano and the lake. It seemed to us that it could remove any thermal discomfort and tiredness.
The rare houses and establishments with scallop shell windows were also a sight. We also saw how the food business thrived. We spent a lot on food and drinks. One of us burst out, “Thank God there is nothing to buy here,” when we went to the 6th church, where there were no food vendors or stores.
Each church we went to had different characteristics. There are those with guards on duty to oversee the silence and solemnity of the place from the visitors. As Pag-asa visitors, we are responsible enough to respect the solemnity of these places sans guards on duty and signboard notices. Most of all, we make sure to pray first before taking photos. There are places where taking pictures is not allowed, even if it is not Holy Week.
This draconian rule was a result of bad experiences with previous visitors.
Our documentarist prayed before the group did, ensuring he could take photos while preserving the solemnity of the religious activity.
Pag-asa believes in the importance of photos because they can share thoughts, ideas, and feelings that are sometimes hard to put into words.
As a follow-up to our Visita Iglesia, we joined a larger group for the Easter Sunday celebration activity.
We realized we didn’t have to be pious when observing Holy Week. We could practice it and still enjoy it even if we took a detour from the usual vacation on the beach. We still reconnected, not only with God but also with our family and other families, laughing and enjoying one another. Somehow, we felt like we pulled ourselves from materialism and individualism. This is the real break that we need, which we’ve been missing out on.
We were glad we did not miss Easter Sunday, a holiday of obligation, the day of the Lord and His resurrection. Our group’s parents took this opportunity to teach their children about faith by bringing them to our Easter Family Banquet activity. We started the activity with meditation, games, and Liturgical mass and finished it with lunch and the distribution of gifts.
Who said Lent was tedious and painful? Well, we survived and enjoyed it!
