Maundy Thursday

Usually at this time I would be on my way to church for our Maundy Thursday service, but I am home-bound this year (somewhat under the weather and keeping a depressed beagle company). Following the service, several of us would get dropped off at the EDSA shrine to join the pilgrimage to Antipolo. Every year on Maundy Thursday there is a pilgrimage (the "Alay Lakad") from the Church of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo to the Antipolo Cathedral. Watching this mass movement of people is amazing enough, but becoming part of this throng...absolutely incredible! I feel sorry for the people standing on the sidelines handing out tracts. They really ought to take a chance and plunge in. The walk is fun, exhilarating, deeply spiritual, ever-changing community. Your feet might hurt, your body might be weary, but an energy flows through you from all the people around you. You are caught up in something larger than yourself.

I've participated in the "Alay Lakad" several times, and each time creates a special place in which I am privileged to walk.