priest

Visita Iglesia is a Spanish phrase which means visiting churches. The original Filipino Catholic tradition is a Holy Thursday event after the Last Supper celebration wherein the faithful visits the exposed the blessed sacrament in seven chosen churches for veneration until midnight. However, some faithful use also this term in visiting churches aside from the time mentioned above as long as it is within the time of Lenten season. Some church official would like to use term Parish Pilgrimage instead.  Whatever might be the term used, one thing is sure it is a religious activity that the Catholic faithful see as an act of piety that strengthen one's faith. Here is one of the route of the Parish Pilgrimage of the St. Martin de Porres parishioners from Adelina 1, San Pedro, Laguna, Philippines. It includes the map and prayer of the station of the cross.   Lakbay Dasal 2013 by  

(This is a repost from http://www.usccb.org entitled Six Ways To Evangelize During Lent. however I dropped out the sixth because it is not applicable to Philippine setting.) During Lent, when your friends or co-workers express curiosity about Catholic customs and symbolism, use those moments as opportunities to evangelize! Following are six common questions Catholics hear during Lent and some evangelizing answers. Ash Wednesday: What’s with that dirt on your head? Who hasn’t gotten that question on Ash Wednesday before? Do you feel silly when people ask you about your ashes? And is it hard to answer their questions? Having ashes on your forehead isn’t just some weird Catholic thing: it’s a tradition that finds its roots in the Old Testament. “I turned to the Lord God, to seek help, in prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes” (Daniel 9:3). When the ashes are placed on our foreheads in the sign of the Cross, it is a reminder of several things. First, it is a call t...