GOOD FRIDAY RITES IN STO. ROSARIO PARISH OF SAPANG PALAY, SAN JOSE DEL MONTE CITY, BULACAN

Fr. Abe reading the Gospel passage during the SIETE PALABRAS [SEVEN LAST WORDS OF JESUS] in Sto. Rosario Parish.

Definitely my shots during the celebrations of this year's Holy Week is much more numerous than this set of pictures. Unfortunately the rest were lost in my corrupted files. Through the grace of the Lord I was able to save these photos because I didn't erase them from the camera because I was preparing them for development.

Fr. Abe reciting a prayer after his reflection on the Second Words in The Seven Last Words of the Lord Jesus.

Our Good Friday started at about 6:30am with the recitation of the Station of the Cross around the Parish Church. It was well attended by the people. Then at exactly 12:00nn the Siete Palabras were started inside the Parish Church and once again the House of Worship was filled to overflowing. People came even one hour before reflections on the Word of God.

Fr. Abe before the SANTO INTIERRO or the Holy Corpse of the Lord, before the celebration of the Veneration of the Cross. Later this Santo Intierro was led in a procession by the faithful commemorating the entombment of the Lord.

The night before our parish was also filled to overflowing capacity during the Commoration of the Lord's Holy Supper. The flow of people continued after the Mass for the Vigil before the Blessed Sacrament remembering Jesus's Agony in the Garden. All the members of various organizations in the Church took turn in leading the prayers and they came with their friends and family members and even people, students who were mostly in Manila or in their boarding houses during school days came to worship the Eucharistic Lord.

Our parish priest, Fr. Verge at the center with Fr. Conrado at the right and Fr. Abe at the left. The priests prostrated themselves before the bare Altar and Sanctuary in Solemn Silence to commemorate that Sacred Moment when the Lord Jesus died on the Cross.

All my photos during the Holy Thursday were corrupted and is unreadable but until now I am still filled with happiness remembering the day because that evening I spent 4 hours confessing people mostly college students and young couples who came to the parish to pray and when they saw the three of us priests confessing they were so delighted so that each priest had long line of eager penitents. However, I was so happy since long after the lines dwindled before my two companion confessors, mine seemed be unending. People were crying with sorrow and later with happiness after receiving the Lord's forgiveness through the minister of the Church.

The 3 priests subdivided the rites of the celebration. Fr. Conrado served as Master of the Ceremony being a member of the Liturgical Commission of the Diocese of Malalos, Fr. Verge was the main celebrant being the parish priest and Fr. Abe was asked to be the Preacher and the one to lead the rite of Veneration of the Cross.

Going back to the Siete Palabras the number I have picked during the lot was the second one: "Today you will be with me in Paradise!" I loved it because I found that declaration of the Lord very meaningful and very rich theologicially as well as spiritually. Theologically it proves the Catholic Doctrine of Life After Death. Spiritually it touches me very much to see how the unrepentant thief mocked Jesus on the Cross asking the Lord to bring him down so that he can continue his robber's life. The repentant thief on the other hand didn't request to be brought down instead he asked to remain on the Cross and serve his just sentence. In return, the Lord brought him up... to Paradise.

12 of the Parish's Lay Ministers served as 12 Apostles and they were present during the entire Holy Week celebrations from Palm Sunday until the Easter Vigil.

I also find it very striking that the repentant thief was able to recognize two magnificent reality on the CRUCIFIED LORD. First, he attested that the one hanging with him is no other than GOD. This is manifested by his strong rebuke of the unrepentant companion: "Are you not afraid of God since you are of the same sentence with Him?" Second, the was able to recognize the Kingship of Jesus despite the fact that the man in front of him is weak and dying, bleeding and helplessly crucified: "Lord, remember me in your Kingdom." Of course together with the Kingship he declared the Lordship of Christ. Good Lord... how did he discover the identity of Jesus? It is very unlikely that this robber or thief was listening to the preaching of Jesus in Capernaum and the Galilean region.

The long universal intercessions for Good Friday is a moving testament to the universality of the Church and of her deep concern to bring the world into faith in Jesus Christ.

First, I believe that because of the Repentant Thief's openness to the spirit, his humility and willingness to repair the evil of his sins gave him the grace to receive the gift of faith from the Father under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It reminds me of St. Peter in Matthew 16:15-17 wherein Jesus said that Peter's Confession is correct because it is a grace from the Father in heaven.

One of the many occasions of kneeling during the First Part of the Good Friday Liturgy.

Second, the Repentant Thief reached those conclusion by simply observing Jesus. He was so dignified, so extraordinarly holy and kind and merciful despite the fact that he was mocked, insulted, being tortured... He realized that what Jesus was showing is no ordinary human efforts but a manifestation of the Supreme Love of God. Peter, James and John witnessed Jesus' Transfiguration and Miracles yet the Apostles with the exception of John were frightened by the possibility of death. This man saw only the bleeding Jesus yet he came to realize the presence of his God before him.

Fr. Abe delivering the Homily explaining the Self-Emptying of the Son of God by dying on the Cross for the Atonement of our Sins.

The Repentant Thief is telling us that the Love of God is Greater than our Hearts and Greater than our Sins. This overwhelming love of God invites us to see our own Cross not as a punishment or as a hindrance to life but a challenge to see and find the presence of God in our own sorrows, pains, weaknesses, failures and disappointments. By accepting our Crosses we are being born into Eternal Life because in our Cross there is the presence of Jesus which is seemingly absent yet if we have faith we can find him in our greatest failures and misery. Thus, we can cry with the ancient Psalmists: "And now let the weak say I am strong, let the poor say I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us." What did the Lord has done for us? HE IS WITH US IN OUR PAIN AND SUFFERING TO BRING US WITH HIM INTO EVERLASTING LIFE.

FOR THE VENERATION OF THE CROSS the three of us priest joined forces for the beautiful Liturgical Rite. Fr. Conrado served as Master of Ceremony, Fr. Verge the celebrant but I was the one who gave the Homily and led the Adoration of the Cross. I was very grateful for it because I loved so much the Liturgy of the Adoration of the Cross. After the Communion the people led by the Apostles carried the Santo Intierro around the parish which ended at its entombment. We three priests, however, stayed in the parish to hear Confessions of those who are still asking for Confession. It's so wonderful confessing people with the magnificent Cross elevated on the Sanctuary with lighted Candles signifying the Salvation given to us by the Great High Priest -- the Lord Jesus Himself. The three priests after giving communion to the faithful.