An Easter Vigil postscript

Hi there! It's been weeks since we witnessed the Easter Vigil. But there is one thing that I have always wanted to share with you, an experience I always have each time that celebration comes around. And this year I managed to take some pictures of it.

For the average church-goer, the images of Easter vigil would be the lighted candles while the Church lights are off, the covered niches of saints and of course the Paschal candle. For me (for the past so many years), in addition to the usual sight on Easter vigil, this has always been the view from my area (where I sit as the commentator): water in various containers - plastic gallons, mineral water containers, bottles and what have you - placed on the area where the Paschal candle stands with the container for the baptismal water (pix below).

You might want to ask, why should the faithful bring in water of their own to join the blessing of the water which (many years ago a priest told me) is the water of baptism. Are the faithful into the rites of baptism of their own? I heard somebody say (a few years back) that it was for the reason of driving bad spirits away. With baptismal water?

Nope, there's no distribution of relief good or prizes. This is always the scene at the altar after the final blessing when the faithful scramble to get hold of their containers of baptismal water.

We failed to catechize them properly, or so said a priest speaking for the CBCP regarding the issue on the faithful using the palaspas (blessed on Palm Sunday) to ward off evil. Can the same thing be said about this bringing of water on Easter vigil? Well, what can we expect with some priests getting busy about everything else except caring for the soul of the faithful? What with some priest, or at least one I've heard who have made it on top of his agenda to raise the arancel in the parish. Oops, me and my mouth! And yes, what with the "I don't care" pronouncements of (again) a priest I know? Oops, me and my mouth again!

We've heard about priests with kids, with kabit and what have you; and yes, now and then we hear about the priestesses. A few year back, some friends and I discussed about the assignment of a bishop we know to another diocese. We were kinda bothered about it 'coz according to one friend it meant great challenges ahead for the said bishop - the number of the faithful who will be under his care will be really BIG; another said that he had to deal with priests who have good attitude and those with "attitude" brought about by their being holders of masteral and doctorate degrees; and another was quick to (jokingly) say that yes, those are indeed challenges, and that's not even including the priestesses, yet (oops, smile don't take it seriously. This is another story and I don't think we have this case in the parish, for now anyway). Seriously, (and generally) speaking, there must be something about our Catholic faith (surely it's not synonymous with fanaticism, is it?) which makes us such forgiving creatures.

Back to the Parish and the Easter vigil. And yes, among the highlights of the Easter vigil is the sugat. I made a blog post about it last year (please check this link) when the sugat was given a new twist. Don't ask me about this year - it was a dud. Let's not even start discussing on the decor which included crepe paper hanging like there's a barangay dance; and the finger of the resureccion which was cut off it appeared like Christ was making a dirty finger sign; and the angel on a sack (?) to make it appear she was flying? Nice try, but please do try harder the next time!