Good friday
Mahal na araw 2024
Santa Rita Pampanga
PrusisyonA Journey to and from God
Prusisyon
or procession is one of the traditional activities done by Catholics during HolyWeek. Since I was the youngest child among my maternal cousins, I was often dragged off by myaunts during holidays to participate in church activities;
prusisyon
is one of them. We wouldusually watch the image of saints leaving the church one by one, then follow Santa Maria Jacobe
(which is owned by my mother’s cousin)
and join the group of people behind her. As a child I wasoften intrigued and fascinated by the imposing images, elaborately designed and dressed for theoccasion. I liked watching Santa Maria Veronica holding her handkerchief with the impression of
Jesus’ face in blood, as well as playing with the candle that we use to light the saint’s image.
There are various beliefs as to why
prusisyon
is done. People consider it as a way of praising and showing devotion to God. Others believe that this would help them get closer to Godspiritually and that it would help their prayers reach Him. My parents consider procession as a wayof remembering the sacrifices made by Jesus Christ for humankind. However, since the activitywas already widespread, some people participate because others do it with no idea why such practice was done.Catholics Fortress (2014) stated that procession, as we Filipinos know it, came from Spain.It is a symbol of pilgrimage, of our earthly journey to God. The manner in which the processionstarts and ends at the church mirrors our (spiritual) journey. Our lives came from and would come back to Him. Other saints are present in the procession as our prayer companions in our life.According to my aunts, not much had changed in the structure of processions throughoutthe years. The grandeur of the procession, apparently, depends upon the parish priests. Apart fromthat, the procession nowadays was done how it was always done before
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with splendor anddevotion from the participants.Reference:Catholic Fortress. (2014, April 17).