When I was a kid, my mom's the strictest person I've known during the days of Maundy Thursday to Black Saturday. She suddenly transforms into a dictator-like supreme leader of a communist country: she imposes stringent rules - no playing, no radios, no meat, no laughing, no wearing of loud-colored shirts, no fighting, and orders absolute zero crime rate. There are only three things that we can do, (1) pray, (2) pray and (3) pray some more. I almost felt like someone in the family dies every year, on the same exact day - on Good Friday. We had to go to the wake and pray, do vigil and perform ceremonies I do not understand as my mom recites Latin prayers and chants Latin hymns. I see my playmates in the church but I know I will be forbidden to play with them so I pretend like I don't see them, and worse is, I act like as if I don't know them. Strict rules have to be followed, or else I will be cursed (my mom didn't teach that, it was the Spaniards).
All of us in the family perform a specific role during the Holy Week. Mine is to lead the Stations of the Cross to everyone in the family. I have six siblings ahead of me and it was a great relief if everyone's present so I could recite all 14 prayers on every station at once and play with candle balls right after. What's painstaking is if my siblings arrive at the church one at a time. I had to do six rounds of Stations of the Cross and that's when I have almost memorized the whole prayer book (I still do, actually).
Now that I have my own family, I missed doing this. I missed mom, who is now in the US, with her strict rules and jaw-dropping glares (with balloon thought on top of her head saying "makuha ka sa tingin"). I missed leading the prayers for my siblings. I missed the strict no-meat diet. I missed the old ways of Via Crucis.
This year, I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to combine (1) enhancing my daughter's reading skills by leading the prayers on all 14 stations just like what I used to do when I was on her age, (2) granting my wife's request to complete the Stations of the Cross with all four of us in the family and (3) for me to take a tour of Manila, err... just the nearby places of our abode.
Below are our 14 Stations - from Mandaluyong, to Pasig, to San Juan, to Makati and back to Mandaluyong. Our 14 favorite churches to visit...
1st Station: Jesus Institutes the Eucharist
at St. Francis of Assisi Church, Mandaluyong
2nd Station: Jesus Prays at Gethsemane
at Immaculate Concepcion Church, Pasig City
3rd Station - Jesus Faces the Sanhedrin
at Christ the King Church, Green Meadows Quezon City
4th Station - The Scourging and Crowning of Thorns
at Archdiocesan Shrine of Divine Mercy, Mandaluyong City
5th Station: Jesus Carries the Cross to Calvary
at San Felipe Neri Parish, Mandaluyong City
at Santuario Del Sto. Cristo, San Juan City
7th Station: Simon of Cyrene Carries the Cross of Jesus
at St. John the Baptist Church, San Juan City
8th Station: Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem
at Mary The Queen Church, Greenhills, San Juan City
9th Station: Jesus is Nailed on the Cross
at Santuario De San Jose Parish, Greenhills, San Juan City
10th Station: The Repentanth Thief
at Parish of the Holy Cross, Makati City
11th Station: Virgin Mary and John at the Foot of the Cross
at St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, Makati City
12th Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross
at Nuestra Senora de Gracia Parish, Makati City
13th Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross
at National Shrine Of Our Lady Of Guadalupe, Makati City
14th Station: Jesus is Laid on the Tomb
at Our Lady of Fatima Shrine, Mandaluyong City
