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BY RESEL JOY TIANERO
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Thursday, April 13, 2017
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ILOILO City – Ilonggos have different ways of expressing their faith during Lent – that yearly period in Christendom when the faithful meditate on the passion and death of Jesus Christ.
While some view Holy Week as a time to take a much needed vacation, for others – at least for the people this paper interviewed – it is a time to reconcile with the God of all Creation, to renew their faith and atone for their sins.
For 38-year-old candle vendor Myra Palma, Lent is a time for serious praying.
“Prayer is a very powerful tool. If we have faith in Him, everything will be okay,” says Palma.
Palma has been selling candles outside the Jaro Cathedral these past 10 years, “rain or shine,” she says.
This Holy Week, she’s not taking a break from her work.
Yes, she prays before commencing her candle vending each day, she says.
Meanwhile, 73-year-old Nena (she asked that her surname be withheld, saying she’s a very private person) of Mandurriao district observes fasting and/or abstinence during the Lenten season to share in the sacrifices of Jesus Christ.
Fasting is reducing the intake of food while abstinence is refraining from eating meat.
Nena says fasting and abstinence take a lot of discipline and she has been doing this every Holy Thursday and Good Friday.
But this is nothing, she says, compared to the huge sacrifice Jesus Christ made to atone for mankind’s sins.
For Editha Truimpante of Tigbauan, Iloilo joining the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) is a Lenten tradition.
Via Crusis is a lengthy meditation on the passion and death of Jesus – from Pilate’s condemnation of Christ to the eventual crucifixion and burial of the Lord.
The Way of the Cross makes her reflect on her own life and her faith, says Truimpante.
She has been joining the Via Crucis since she was a young girl, she says.
On the other hand, climbing the Balaan Bukid in Guimaras Island has become a Holy Week panata (pilgrimage) for 23-year-old Michael Perez of Tubungan, Iloilo.
Balaan Bukid is probably the highest point of Guimaras. There stands a huge cross. Along the trail going to the cross are the so-called “14 stations” of the Via Crucis.
Climbing the Balaan Bukid is Perez’s way of sharing in the passion of Christ.
Someday when he has children, he says he will pass on to them this beautiful panata./PN
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