Being mostly a Catholic country, the Philippines has been on holiday since yesterday, Maundy Thursday, the first day of the Easter Triduum. Yesterday, the mass, which commemorates the last supper, included a re-enactment of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and ended with the body of Christ (the consecrated hosts) being placed in the altar of repose, where they will stay until the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. There are no masses today, Good Friday. Instead, other prayer services commemorating the passion and death of Jesus are held: the recitation of and sermons about his seven last words, the way of the cross, and the chanting of the pasyon (the paschal narrative in poetry). There will be no masses tomorrow, Black Saturday, either. But vigils will be held in most churches, which will culminate early Sunday morning in the salubong (meeting), a celebration of the first meeting of the resurrected Christ with his mother Mary. This is a portion of the arched ceiling of the Binondo Church, which is covered with paintings depicting scenes from the life of Jesus. The rectangular paintings at the bottom are the guides for the way of the cross, half of which are on the other side of the church. In most churches, one just goes around the periphery. Here, it seems that one is meant to cross from one side of the church to the other as one prays and remembers the suffering and death that Jesus Christ had to go through.
21 comments:
Love your post Hilda: If you are looking for Good Friday posts, try the following Skywatch Friday posts today # 78, 116, 140, and ours, 210.
Haven't been through all of the Skywatch posts...... but trying!!!
Hilda, your post is a wonderful reminder of why Easter is such an important holiday.
Thanks for visiting, have a Happy Easter...
belle architecture, on dirait des voiles.
nice architecture, they would say sails.
So different from the catholic churches around here!
Very pretty church interior. Happy Easter!
Fascinating!!
Most impressive and very beautiful.
Thank you for a wonderful Good Friday post and for the picture of the beautiful church.
Thank you for this beautiful post and for this image of a church so different (but not so much) from ours. Our paintings of the Stations of the Cross are usually smaller and churches usually darker: the Binondo Church seems so full of light...
Beautiful post and photo.
A wonderful post Hilda. The picture is beautiful!
Beautiful ceiling ! Great post Hilda!
Happy Easter!
God bless you
Léia
It's a lovely picture, but I really had to bend my head to enjoy those paintings on the ceiling. The story of Easter is intriguing, I'm watching a television drama about it right now.
A great relevant post.
Super post and wonderful picture today. The lighting is first rate.
Hilda: Glad you liked our post. If you EVER find the set(s) of crosses by Rev. Coffindaffer in the Phillipines, please photograph them and share them. Found another Good Friday Skywatch Friday #293. You'll love it!
Jan
A lovely Easter post.
Happy Easter!
So beautiful ceiling!//Eva
I am very impressed by this beautiful formed ceiling.
Easter happy holidays.
Fantastic picture. I really like it.
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