Faith never ends.
And in a display of devotion that defies understanding, millions of barefoot Catholics once again braved the risks of taking part in the annual Black Nazarene procession in Manila on Wednesday, making atonement for their sins, raising petitions for heavenly favors and giving thanks for answered prayers.
“There is no end to giving thanks and asking for forgiveness because we always commit sins and there is always something to be grateful for,” Alfonso Calleja, 59, a devotee of the Nazarene, told the Inquirer.
Not a few came on crutches and some came in wheelchairs, but many more came to bear witness to heaven’s answers to their prayers.
“We are here because Jesus Christ is our companion and saved us from all our hardships and disappointments. We want to give thanks,” said Lilia Tiluo, a 67-year-old grandmother from Manila’s Binondo district.
Calleja and Tiluo joined devotees—more than nine million by an estimate—who shoved and staggered under the sun and a slight afternoon drizzle to take part in the traslacion, or transfer of the image of the Black Nazarene from Rizal Park to Quiapo Church in the heart of Manila.
Hundreds injured
Hundreds were injured in the grueling procession that lasted some 18 hours after leaving Quirino Grandstand, where a Mass was held by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle.
Police described the event as “generally peaceful” save for the occasional pickpockets.
Tiluo came with a friend, 80-year-old Lambertina Reyes, who had been taking part in the procession for four decades.
“[Reyes] now has difficulty of hearing. If only she could hear you, you could ask her about how the Black Nazarene saved her brother from the Japanese during World War II,” Tiluo said.
“She would always remind us about it. She has been coming here for the last 40 years,” she said.
According to Tiluo, Reyes would tell people the story of her brother who hid in a church from Japanese soldiers who were searching for him. As the Japanese closed in, the brother uttered a prayer to the Black Nazarene.
“The church doors closed [on their own]. That’s how he was saved,” Tiluo said.
“We join the Nazarene’s procession twice a year: During Holy Week and on His feast day. We were here last year and, God willing, we will again be here for years to come,” she said.
The two elderly women, wearing the yellow and maroon shirts of devotees, waved from afar as the procession passed by the Bonifacio Monument near City Hall to avoid the crush of people trying to get near the carriage bearing the Black Nazarene.
Healing towels
During the procession, devotees would wipe towels on the dark-wood image of Christ, even on the numerous replicas of it carried by other devotees, in the belief that the Nazarene’s healing power would rub off on them.
From a painter in Parañaque to a Manila City Hall employee, to a migrant worker visiting from Japan to a pedicab driver—all would keep their towels, to be used later for curing maladies.
“As long as you have strong faith,” one answered when asked if she believed that the statue’s healing power stayed in the towel.
Some devotees display their towels in altars at home and some have kept the same towel for as long as six years. New devotees do not wash their towels for a week.
“We are not worshiping the wood; we are venerating God. We endure the difficulties to feel the presence of the divine,” Calleja said.
Changed life
Calleja, once a young stowaway who kept thieves and drug addicts for company, said his devotion to the Black Nazarene helped him change his life.
“Back then, those who joined the procession were those who had sinned, those who had lost their way and wanted to live a new life,” he said.
“I was a stowaway in Manila and led a wayward life. When my mother died, I joined the procession to ask for forgiveness,” he said.
No one introduced him to the devotion but he had seen his uncles religiously joining the procession every year and he decided to follow them.
“This is good,” Calleja said. “We can express our hardships in life and we are changed by it.”
His life began to change, he said. “I found a job, I had an opportunity to work abroad, I had a family and was able to send my children to school. We’re happy,” he said.
Calleja’s family lives in Laguna. He works as an elevator technician in Saudi Arabia and participates in the procession if he is in the country during the Feast of the Black Nazarene.
This year, Calleja showed up wearing a white T-shirt, which used to be the “uniform” of the statue bearers. Maroon and yellow are the devotional colors now.
Both Calleja and Rico Peralta, another devotee, were astounded by the increasing following of the Black Nazarene. Both recalled that only hundreds took part in the procession in the 1950s up to 1970s.
Memories of the past
Calleja said that in those days, the image would be taken out of Quiapo Church at 9 a.m. and returned by 2 p.m. “The procession went on smoothly, unhindered by so many people,” he said.
Peralta, 66 and a devotee since he was 15 years old, said the wooden statue used to be taken only around the streets of Quiapo.
“There were no wheels and we just carried the image,” he said. “And the carriers were mostly criminals from Bilibid or Manila City Jail who had taken a vow of devotion as penance.”
A resident of Parañaque City, Peralta had intestinal surgery in 1993 and could no longer go with the procession. He is now content with just catching a glimpse of the Black Nazarene from the sidelines.
“I’m thankful that I’m still alive,” he said.
‘Really miraculous’
“The Nazarene is really miraculous. When you’re carrying him, you don’t feel any fatigue or thirst,” said Virgilio de la Cruz, 42, a trash collector from Malabon City who has been a devotee since he was 17.
It was his father, who died 16 years ago at the age of 96, who had introduced De la Cruz to the Black Nazarene devotion. He said he had only one petition: Good health for him and his family.
For Jerry Putulin, who lost his left foot in an accident and walked with a crutch, taking part in the procession was an act of gratitude for the blessings he had received and to the people who helped him after the accident.
Nineteen-year-old Jesiann Paulino is a relatively new devotee, following the procession since her uncles introduced her to the devotion three years ago.
But Paulino is one of the young women whose burning passion drive them to climb the carriage of the Black Nazarene to be with the statue even only for a while.
“It’s difficult but it’s worth it,” she said. “When I climb, I feel as if I had been cleansed.”
Easier this year
Many devotees felt the ease brought by improvements introduced by the procession’s sponsors, especially the use of real tires to replace the old wooden wheels of the Black Nazarene’s carriage that broke last year, slowing down the procession, which ended after 22 hours.
Housewife Jean Frael said she started joining the procession four years ago after her youngest son was cured from a sickness when she prayed to the Black Nazarene.
“He had a fever and was having convulsions when we prayed to Him and my son was cured,” said Frael, who was clutching in her arms two statues of the Child Jesus as she watched the procession.
“Joining the procession feels so light. It’s like you are cleansed of all your sins,” she added.
The Philippine Red Cross treated at least 1,410 patients, including 750 who suffered from high blood pressure, vomiting, lacerations, bruises, burns and head injuries.
One of those slightly injured was Manuel Torres, whose toe on the right foot bled after someone stepped on it during the pushing and jostling as the procession passed by General Luna and Padre Burgos streets near Intramuros.
“I’ll come back again next year. I have not been able to get up the carriage,” Torres said after he had his toe bandaged at a first-aid station in front of City Hall.
Crush of people
The crush of people was massive in front of the carriage as groups of men struggled to get hold of the ropes used to pull the carriage.
As the procession snaked through the northern lane of Padre Burgos, the throng in front of the carriage spilled over several times to the other lane, pushing aside and breaking through the crowd watching from the median.
But while some of those pushed aside complained, the atmosphere was one of camaraderie, with some on the median giving water to those in front and at the back of the carriage.
“Brothers, look out! Those plants are thorny,” shouted one devotee after several burly and barefoot men climbed over the median, almost stepping on the thorny plants, to escape the crush in front of the carriage.
Before climbing down to the other side, one of the burly men turned around and looked once more at the Black Nazarene. He cupped his hands over his mouth, closed his eyes and murmured a prayer.
Birthday wish
Scavenger Jocelyn Cauba was smiling as she was picking up plastic bottles along the path of the procession. It was her 48th birthday and she had already filled her sack with empty plastic bottles. She had been going about it since 10 a.m.
“It’s my birthday but I don’t have money. This sack is going to fetch P100. My birthday wish and prayer to the Black Nazarene is for Manila to no longer have poor people,” Cauba said.
While picking up plastic bottles along the procession route, Cauba said she was also praying for the recovery of a housemate who had suffered a stroke.
“It’s still early and after I get this to the junk shop in Sta. Cruz, I’ll come back and pick up some more,” she added.