It has been a memorable Holy Week for me as it was my first time to go on a Visita Iglesia. I did some online research so I may better understand why there is such a tradition in the Catholic faith and found out that it's like another version of the Way of the Cross.
One usually visits seven or fourteen churches but in our case, we managed to visit only 9, since there wasn't enough time for us. I initially planned to do two stations in each church and found a really nice Way of the Cross guide on the internet, with prayers and bible readings relevant to each station of the station. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish the praying the Way of the Cross since we had to rush from one church to the next.
What was nice though was that we were able to pause for a while after the veneration of the cross and the veneration of the Lady of Sorrows. It was a nice feeling and my little girl got to experience how we celebrate the Lenten season in the Philippines and she quite enjoyed falling in line and touching the wounds on the image of the cruficied Christ. An idea came up to me while doing the Visita Iglesia. Maybe we can also do our own version of the Visita Iglesia in Europe, visiting a church or two in one European country and then move on to the next. Or maybe we can just do a Visita Iglesia around Germany or around the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. We'll see... the possibilities are endless and we could actually do it every year and turn it into another family tradition. That way, our children will be able to appreciate and understand our Catholic faith better.
Here are some of the photos that I managed to take on our Visita Iglesia journey:
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| The little girl and her cousin outside the St. Jude Thaddeus Parish (2) in Malvar St., Davao City |
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| Lining up for the veneration of the cross at St. Paul Parish (3) in Juna Subd., Matina, Davao City |
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| Inside San Pedro Cathedral (4), San Pedro Street, Davao City |
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| Veneration of the Cross at Our Lady of Fatima Parish (5), Davao City |
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| Inside the Sta. Ana Parish (6), Sta. Ana Street, Davao City |
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| At the Sacred Heart Parish (7), N. Torres, Obrero, Davao City |
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| At San Antonio de Padua Parish (8), Agdao, Davao City |
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| St. Joseph the Worker Parish (9), Sasa, Davao City |
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| A group photo at the last church we visited. Taken at St. Joseph the Worker Parish, Sasa, Davao City |
Did not manage a photo of the first church we visited, which was the Our Lady of the Assumption Parish along F. Torres, Davao City.
Until the next Visita Iglesia! To God be the glory! Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.
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