Priests gather anew; fulfills promise, prepares afresh

By Lilette P. Manauis

Caceres priests gather yet one more time to fulfill their centuries-old vow of celebrating the feast of Divino Rostro and spiritually prepare for the feast of Ina, Our Lady of Peñafrancia.

“Pagbalyo Kay Divino Rostro” is the annual tradition wherein priests carry the image of the Divino Rostro through a solemn procession from the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Peñafrancia in Balatas Road, Naga City, to the Shrine of Our Lady of Peñafrancia in Barangay Peñafrancia, Naga City. Thereafter, Novenary masses in honor of the said image are celebrated until it gets transferred with the image of Ina to the Naga Metropolitan Cathedral through the Traslacion procession.

A highly significant chapter of this tradition is the clergy recollection, which intends to prepare them spiritually to celebrate the fiesta in honor of Ina. This year, the recollection was distinctly crafted to impart two talks and foster a spiritual conversation.

Initially, Dr. Eric B. Zerrudo, Executive Director of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) talked about Heritage. “He was invited by the Archdiocese to settle a recurring need of priest[s] to be educated on cultural heritage conservation, since most of [its] pastors manage old churches,” said Fr. Francis A. Tordilla, rector of the Holy Rosary Minor Seminary and member of the Archdiocesan Construction and Heritage Committee.

Continually, Fr. Jene Lois Sarmiento, who was the speaker in the afternoon session, talked about Memory. Related to the first talk on Heritage, he emphasized that “Heritage is not simply what is old; it is what the community remembers, cherishes,  and hands on.” He further quoted Paul Connerton in one of his works saying, that “’Societies remember not only through written history but also through embodied practices and spaces-memory that is incorporated in experiences of rituals and inscribed in places and objects.’”

More relevantly, Fr. Lois showed pictures of the Holy Rosary Minor Seminary and other old churches in the Archdiocese and encouraged priests to actively share their “memories” of those places.

Following the interactional part of the talk was the spiritual conversation among the priests assigned in small groups. They were ushered into their group, guided by these three questions: (1) Places make sense, senses make the place. What is that one place that makes sense to you? (2) In your community, how do people value these places/objects? And (3) What can we do to protect these valuable places/objects?

The recollection was ceremonially completed by a mass celebrated by Archbishop Rex Andrew Alarcon, who thanked his brother priests for being present to fulfill their promise to carry the image of the Divino Rostro in a solemn procession. In his homily, he said a prayer for the priests of Caceres and the seminarians who attended the mass.

Archbishop Rex encouraged them through his prayer that they may not feel scared; however, recognize that their ministry is towards a higher level of pastoral success. He further compared their role to that of a mother who secretly cries, bearing the difficulties of motherhood, but openly smiles for her children to see.

He ended his prayerful homily with the invocation, “Logod kita magkaigwa nin determinasyon, perseverance na maski makuri dai kita maghabo,  na maski mayong balos dai kita magsuko,  maski mayong pasalamat dai kita mag give up…na an satuyang balos iyo an lalawgon nin Kagurangan…an lawog ni Hesus na namoot sato asin sa labi labing pagkamoot idinusay an buhay para sato.”