Quiapo Church

I was on the elevator on my way home from the office when Jun from another department asked me if I was going to church. I told him I already attended mass at noon time. It has been a long day for me and I wanted to go home. However, when I got downstairs I felt like taking a long walk to my ride. I have to take one ride going to where I will take my main ride home and I did not feel like taking a ride in the area so I started walking. I have been walking a lot the past days since I feel a bit down… exhausted and weary and I knew a walk would somehow release some of the bad energies surrounding me…

So I walked… not too fast… not too slow just walk… I wasn’t looking at the places I am passing through just walking towards my main ride and it is actually a long walk. My mind is still bombarded with thoughts, different kinds of thoughts… I shake them away… it stops then other thoughts come in… sometimes I wish I would just stop thinking and just enjoy the present moment but there are just moments when I give in to this thoughts… ahhh…

Anyway, at some point I had a choice whether I would go straight further or walk to the main street. It wasn’t so dark and there were still a lot of people so I walked straight some more thinking of turning left when I finally reach Evangelista St. and when I finally reached there I suddenly decided to turn right instead of left. The road leads to Quiapo church where they have the Black Nazarene. It is Friday, the day where devotees come in droves. I have never really come there on a regular Friday and though I know that there will be lots of people, I was surprised at the volume that was there. I know how many people go there especially on His feast day which I have attended before. This is just a regular Friday yet it was more than the volume you would see on a Sunday masses in most parishes. It wasn’t only the church that was full but even outside the church where they have a big screen that shows the proceeding inside. So many people! The current mass was halfway through when I came and I still did not want to leave. I wanted to stay some more. Maybe it will be the last mass for the day and I could come inside and just spent some quiet time. It is hard to get inside the church because people where standing so close together. However, when it was time for communion, many started moving and I thought it was my chance to move too. So I was finally inside the church. They have huge electric fans so that some areas were cool despite the people. I just stayed there.

Finally when the mass was over, I asked the lady beside me if it was always like that on a Friday and she said yes. I also asked if there were another mass and she was not sure but by the number of people still there I figured there would be. So I stayed further and finished the other mass…

I was thinking on my way home that it was good to be there. There were so many people, there were even some vendors outside BUT the feeling is different. You somehow feel the desire and faith of people there… that nothing could distract you! There is always a blessing at the end of the mass and I got blessed two times :)… People would not only raise their hands during the blessing but they raise religious and other articles they want to be blessed. I noticed on my way out a father and daughter walking together. The daughter raised 2 pencils. I figured that she will be taking the board exam and asking the Lord to bless the pencils she will use for the examination (I uttered a silent prayer for her too wishing she does pass the examination).

So I finally got home. I feel better… I guess sometimes it is good to just follow where your footsteps lead you…