I am seriously not a religious person, and the last time I went through the Stations of the Cross for holy week was probably more than 20 years ago. When I go home to Cebu for the Holy Week, we usually just stay at home and eat binignit, or biko – but we don’t really participate in any of the activities done by most Catholics in the country.

This year, since I stayed in Manila for Holy Week, I was “forced” (not really, but I had nothing better to do anyway) to join my Bisdak friends for Stations of the Cross/Visita Iglesia. Normally, Visita Iglesia (church hopping) is done on Maundy Thursdays, while Via Crusis is done on Good Fridays (according to Gil – he is Christ after all. Joke). We did a hybrid of both on Good Friday, visiting 5 churches and splitting the 14 stations among them.

Stations 1 & 2: Immaculate Conception Cathedral (Pasig City)

As we arrived at around 3:30 PM, we witnessed the carrying of the dead body of Jesus outside the church.

Stations 3 & 4: Sta. Clara de Montefalco Church (Pasig City)

This church has one of the most beautiful facade. It was so big that it felt like entering an old castle, at least that’s how the church exterior made me feel.

Below the church is an ossuary (where the final skeletal remains of dead people are kept), and it was eerie. We had no choice though because this church’s Stations of the Cross was situated just beside these rows of skeleton containers.

Stations 4 & 5: San Antonio Abad Parish Church (Pasig City)

This church was quite small but you could feel the sense of community among the parishioners. They were preparing for the Good Friday procession outside while we went along with our prayers.

This is a statue of the Virgen Dolorosa (Sorrowful Mother, the grieving Mary), in one of the caro outside the church. People were already lined up ready for the procession.

Stations 6, 7, 8 & 9: The Shrine of Mary, Queen of Peace, Our Lady of EDSA

It was already getting dark so we did 4 stations instead of just 2 in the next church we visited. This is the famous EDSA Shrine – and I didn’t know there was a church under the gigantic statue of Mary!

Stations 10, 11, 12 & 14: St. John Paul II Parish, Eastwood, Libis (Quezon City)

Our last stop for Via Crucis/Visita Iglesia is in Eastwood (we got hungry after all of the navigating, and crowd-swimming).

Outside the church is an image of the Pieta where Mary carries the dead body of Jesus. It was the perfect image to end the Via Crusis/Visita Iglesia.

Since this is technically my first time in a long time to do this, I found a new appreciation for Holy Week. I liked how people solemnly and sincerely participated in different activities – I thought people just stayed in their homes on these days but they were actually out and about, despite the hot summer weather and the crowd of people swarming the church/processions. I wouldn’t mind doing this again next year, with my family in Cebu.

Thank you Yeni and Gil for pushing me to do this! I would have just stayed at home and missed out on this feeling or realization – that I have a lot of work to do in terms of living the faith I was born into.