Sister and I came back from our Singapore trip (will blog about it, soon!), just in time for Holy Week.
Visita Iglesia is a family tradition of visiting 7 or more churches on Maundy Thursday. After the Mass of the Lord's Supper, the Holy Eucharist is transferred to the Altar of Repose. The faithful visit different churches for the veneration and adoration in silent meditation and prayer. We also pray at the 14 Stations of the Cross.
When we were still in high school, Dad would drive, Mommy would be the navigator (way before Waze was invented) and we would pray and meditate at the 14 Stations of the Cross in each church. Back then, traffic was very light, we managed to visit 21 churches in one night.
Nowadays, we only do 7 churches all within close proximity of each other to lessen gas consumption and also to avoid exhaustion. Holy Week is usually during the hot months of March or April and humidity levels are quite high.
This year, we visited the following churches:
1. St. Francis of Assissi Parish, Shaw Blvd (we heard mass here at 5 P.M)
2. Shrine of Mary, Queen of Peace - Edsa Shrine, Ortigas Avenue
3. Mary the Queen Parish, Madison Street, San Juan City
4. National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel - New Manila, QC
5. Carmelite Monastery of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Gilmore QC
6. St. John the Baptist Parish - Pinaglabanan Church, San Juan
7. Santuario del Sto. Cristo, San Juan
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| Main altar of St. Francis of Assissi Parish |
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| Altar of Repose, St. Francis Parish |
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| 2nd Station of the Cross, St. Francis Parish |
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| Edsa Shrine |
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| 3rd Station of the Cross at Edsa Shrine |
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| Our Lady of Peace, Edsa Shrine |
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| The 6th Station of the Cross, Mary the Queen Parish |
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| Altar of Repose at Mary the Queen Parish |
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| Mary the Queen Parish, San Juan |
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| National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
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| 7th Station of the Cross, Mount Carmel Church |
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| Altar of Repose, Mount Carmel Church |
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| Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church |
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| Carmelite Monastery along Gilmore Road |
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| St. Therese of the Child Jesus |
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| Altar of Repose at Carmel of St. Therese of the Child Jesus |
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| Pinaglabanan Church |
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| Altar of Repose at Pinaglabanan Church |
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| Main altar of St. John the Baptist Church |
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| 12th Station of the Cross, Pinaglabanan Church |
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During our high school days, our aunt would hear mass daily at Santuario del Sto. Cristo.
Her driver would first drop her off here then take us to our high school, a couple of blocks away. |
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| 14th Station of the Cross |
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| Altar of Repose at Santuario del Sto. Cristo |
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| Santuario del Sto. Cristo |
2 comments:
It's weird how my family didn't have the Visita Iglesia tradition. I never experienced that. I missed a lot.
I guess to each his own family traditions.
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