It’s been a week since I last blogged. Wow, that’s horrible of me. It’s simply been busy. That’s life. But when I wrote about Lent, I said I would tell you about the Penitencia. It’s one of my memories about Easter time. You can find pictures of it online by Googling “Penitencia Philippines.” But fair warning, it’s bloody, gory, and gruesome. Imagine seeing those pictures in real life as a little girl.
Penitencia is the reenactment of Good Friday. Kinda timely post, huh. It’s Good Friday today, a day that remembers the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. How would one reenact that? Quite literally.
Holy Week in the Philippines is huge. I remember staying at my grandparents’ house for several days leading up to Easter. In the biggest bedroom of their two-story house were three beds side-by-side, and that’s where I would sleep along with my sisters and cousins. Nights were always somber as deep church bells bellowed and echoed throughout the town. I’m not sure if it was on the hour every hour, but they never failed to remind everyone about the seriousness of that week.
On Good Friday, people flock to the streets to catch the Penitencia. A procession of men flogging themselves with whips, branches, sticks, or chains. Or they’re being flogged by other men dressed like Roman soldiers. Some of their faces are obscured by masks. Some wore a crown of thorns. Then, always the last ones in the procession, the men carrying wooden crosses.
Throngs of people pushed to see and my grandma’s hand gripped mine tighter as we moved from store to store to finish buying our groceries. See, I wasn’t old enough to stand and watch. No matter how much I begged to hand out eggs to the men, I was simply too young. Raw eggs were handed out because it gives the men energy to keep going (so my grandma explained).
But the Penitencia was such a huge procession that what was going on wasn’t lost to me. I just didn’t have a front row seat because it would have been traumatizing. So we never went to the final destination, where men were crucified. Nails and all crucified.
A few sources say the Catholic church actually condemned the practice of Penitencia. I haven’t validated that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s true. Even if you take away every moral, ethical, or theological arguments regarding those practices, it’s dangerous. Something could go wrong. Someone could die.
But Good Friday isn’t only about the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross. That happened, yup. But what’s important is what Jesus accomplished by dying on the cross. He made a way for us to be with the Father in Heaven. He bridged the gap. He tore the veil that separates us from the inner most sanctuary of God. His death alone caused the earth to shake and the veil to tear (Matthew 27:50-51). Through the sacrifice of Jesus, we have a way to the Father.
Human blood runs through the streets of the Philippines during Penitencia, but the blood of Jesus has accomplished everything we never could accomplish ourselves. We are saved by grace and not by anything we do (Ephesians 6:8-9). It’s a gift from the Father.
