Holy Week + R&R

Mixing R&R and the spiritual on Holy Week is possible. It's all up to you.

Sometimes, no effort is involved. The procession of carrozas followed by a brass band could pass you by in the street. But most of the time, you will have to put some effort into it. I had never seen a salubong before (where images of the risen Christ and a veiled Mary meet before dawn on Easter Sunday), so I woke up very early in the morning to catch it.

Among the methods of "creative evangelization" in Subic was a short musical play entitled "Lord, I'm Not Worthy", with Ricky Davao as the Roman centurion whose servant was healed by Jesus. The first thing I thought of was Jesus Christ Superstar but the melodies were reminiscent of Trumpets shows. The second thing I thought of was the komedya. The staging was very simple: few pieces, triumphal arch as backdrop.


It is hard to doubt the sincerity of the performers. I loved the voice of the actress who played Hannah and I wondered what happened to Barrabas, who was shown as a hero and Marcus, who was supposed to be a villain. But professional or not, the actors had such conviction that you could not possibly be nasty towards them. The show was directed by Veda Bañez (I suddenly understood why Altaire was there) and organized by Bethesda Healing Ministry and Mary's Army (this makes me think of Dumbledore), with the help of the Subic tourism office. For a free show on the Boardwalk, it was ok, but the sound system could be better and maybe next time they could cut down on the speeches because they felt longer than the show itself and robbed it of the chance to work its magic.

Karylle was also present for the meditation after the show.

Then we had the rest of the weekend to take photos.