Spending the Holy Week in Iloilo and Guimaras Island

On our way to Guimaras, with Ate Tess, Tito Eng and Tetet.

My Holy Week 2015 had been a time spent close to loved ones in nearby Panay Island. 

Last Holy Wednesday, my trip date to Iloilo City, I thought of calling up Trans-Asia Shipping Lines once more to check on the actual availability of tickets just 4 hours before the set departure time at 6:00 pm. I actually called up a week before to inquire about the rates and the schedules. So on the trip date itself, after making that call, I was told that there were only 27 tickets left for the economy class i.e. open air accommodation for the 12-hour boat ride! Hearing that, I immediately turned off my desktop computer, wished my officemates a meaningful Holy Week and headed for the port with my backpack. I was praying hard I could reach Pier Cuatro here in Cebu City by 3 pm to secure a ticket. I needed to make this trip to know the condition of my aunt and uncle (siblings of my father) who both had a stroke some years ago, and who are both getting on in years, living apart in far-flung farms outside the city proper. I was fortunate not to get caught in traffic and managed to reach the port 10 minutes before 3 o'clock! What is more, I was helped a lot by the porter who secured a ticket for me since the ticketing area was quite far from where cabs had to bring down passengers. For that, I am really grateful. 

Nearing Guimaras Island

The 12-hour boat trip wasn't that bad. Even if another tropical storm was threatening to enter the country that same night, I was somehow at peace with the rest of the passengers (which numbered perhaps a thousand!) most of whom are headed to beaches where they will be spending the Holy Week. I happened to share the bunk bed with a mother of a big family who told me that they were in fact going to Boracay. In the course of our conversation, I managed to remind her to attend the Holy Week services there and gave her a stampita of the Holy Family with a Prayer for the Family printed on it. She was grateful for the reminder and the stampita.

With Ate Tess and family

Celebrating Holy Week 2015 with my aunt, uncle and first cousin Tess with her entire family, has been a very memorable experience for me. My Ate Tess, who has been our family's ultimate 'Ate', looked after me all the way. She and husband Tito Eng picked me up at the port and brought me to the small towns where my aunt and uncle are residing, in Sariri and Lambunao respectively. I stayed overnight at Ate Tess' residence in Pavia on a Holy Thursday and met my nephew Jeth and niece Tetet, Ate Tess' kids. It was Ate Tess and family who brought me to Tawili University Center where I stayed last Good Friday. She and family also brought me to the airport late at night to catch the last trip back here to Cebu before Easter Sunday. With this experience, I know I am very lucky to have Ate Tess and family. I am very grateful to them and to Manang Buday, their 'kasambahay', an Ilongga, who really made my trip memorable with her fantastic cooking! 

With Tito Uy and Auntie Inday in Lambunao

I was very happy to see Auntie Inday and Tito Uy again. They were my godparents when I received the Sacrament of Confirmation back when I was in Grade 3. Now that I'm their only immediate relative living close to them, I was tasked to check on how they are doing. We are very grateful to Tita Alvina and Tito Mario for looking after my aunt and uncle for our family. 

St. Julian's Church in Janiuay, Iloilo

I'd like to chronicle here how we spent Holy Week this year.

Holy Thursday: We attended the services at St. Julian's Church in Janiuay, Iloilo, my father's hometown. 

Good Friday: We had a penitential 'adventure' to nearby Guimaras Island (10-15 minutes of boat ride from Iloilo), doing a two-kilometer trek to the peak of Balaan Bukid, where a big Cross is situated, and where a Shrine of Our Lady had been built. We attended Good Friday Services at the Trappist Monastery which is also where we did the Way of the Cross. 

Holy Saturday: I went to Passi City to help locate the house of Lucia, one of my sisters in Tawili, whose mother passed away, the wake of whom is being held in their house up till Easter Friday.

This recent trip to Iloilo, with a bonus trip to Guimaras! --- is one I will always remember with a lot of joy and gratitude. While I missed my sisters here in Cebu during the Holy Week, I know that we were all united with the special Communion of Saints which we have always lived and believed as Catholics.

The Ave Maria Shrine on top of Balaan Bukid in Guimaras

Our Easter Sunday celebration in the center was capped with the Urbi et Orbi Message of the Holy Father and his Easter Blessing via CTV at around 6:30 pm. Even with the thousand and one issues threatening Christian peace and serenity, one thing is for sure. Our Lord is alive. He is truly risen. He is in control of everything. I can talk to Him and tell Him everything I hold in my heart. He listens to me all the time. He listens to all of us, even if we sometimes don't hear what He has to say because of the noise we have in the world and because of the noise we have within us. 

One thing is for sure, Christ looks after you and me. This is the secret we hold as a people who have been given the gift of Faith. It is an 'open' secret that is meant to be shared to all mankind. 

Happy Easter everyone!