Holy week is considered as one of the busiest, stressful and harsh part of a schedule an aspirant will eventually encounter every formation year. This is when they take different responsibilities in accordance with the seminary requirements, school requests and shrine’s overall necessities.
Last March, the seminarians defined the holy week as one of the difficult task they have ever taken in their entire seminary life. Preparations all over the whole week, coordination with things that were so urgent like unexpected needs of different cluster responsibilities, singing practices with the lay, almost sleepless nights for every updates in the backdrops from Maundy Thursday until Easter Vigil , festive “salo- salo’s” planning after the Easter Sunday celebration and a lot more like those that we could also call as “struggles in life.” Some concerns had comments that they were helpless and stressed after a week of hectic and pressured moments of planning (with the plansheets) and physical, spiritual and emotional preparation to the celebrations. Some became honest that they have had a very tight grip with the responsibilities but ended-up not fulfilling them all and plan again for the last minutes. They were all somehow complaining that they have had a very tiring week but the most striking part is that they all claim that this week became their turning point, where they more discovered themselves through the true meaning of the passions and death of Christ, and where they more felt the presence of God, because they realized the true sacrifices that prevailed, and it is our Lord’s saving power which was bestowed unto His people to save us from our sinfulness.
The holy week consists of days starting April 5 as Palm Sunday to April 12, the Easter Vigile celebration. It was filled with big blasts of responsibilities back to back with their own personal intentions and aims for spiritual enrichment. The visualizing of plans and execution of them started from April 5 as said, including the preparations for the SENAKULO play dated to be viewed on Good Friday. The play was headed by the theatre arts students of the college department in cooperation of their professor Fr. Noel Sumagui, SDB.
With the April 6-8 schedules, the seminarians found it difficult to maximize the time since the time allotted was only the whole morning each day. But they managed to set- up and prepare everything; from the most important matters up until the urgent ones.
Maundy Thursday came, and the outcomes of the preparation days were over. Now, the chance to judge them moved towards its full circle as the mass in the gym was held in the evening. Besides that, the celebration brought a more lively impact as they, as well as the lay choir joined forces to animate the singing during the mass. The mass was mainly celebrated by Fr. Louie Castaneda along with the other salesian priests. Afterwards, they also led the crowd as the host was brought into the shrine. Some clusters made their adoration at about 11:00 pm while the other had their optional “Bisita Iglesya” and vice versa.
The next day, the good friday, after all they’ve been through, the seminarians were again challenged by the responsibilities given to them. One of them was to organize and lead the way of the cross in the morning and the other was to animate the veneration of the cross in the evening, with Fr. Rey Dela Cruz as the main celebrant. The whole day ended, and they all got surprised they have done it well than they expected it to be. At last, to complete the day with abundance and grace, they and the other students of theatre arts staged a play entitled “cut.” The story was indeed moving and they were rewarded by the very large crowd who watched it with their fullest support.
The black Saturday, dated the next day, April 11, was also a very tiring day for the seminarians because of the quick need to transform the gym from the set-up in the backdrop for the play to the planned design for the easter vigil celebration, added to that was the ultimate festive preparations for a “salo salo” after the mass later. Moreover, the schedule of singing practice was also coincided with these said preparations. However, the best return for these hardwork and achievements was the compulsory vtr entitiled “God on Trial,” that made us equip for the celebration this evening.
“Christ is risen, Alleluia!” The celebration took place in the gym, started at around 10 pm in the evening until it ended with all the crowd greeting each other a warm “happy easter!” it would not be complete if there was no “salo-salo ” afterwards. The seminarians did their very best to animate well the sensational singing of songs with the lay choir again and finally, the blessing of the people with the newly sanctified water. The mass, by the way, was being celebrated mainly by Fr. Provincial, Fr. Eli Cruz with a bunch of priests who didst chose to celebrate the easter celebration here in Don Bosco Canlubang.
They might have noticed that what they built for several days were only destroyed for a blink of an eye but they surely have not forgotten the values and treasures they had in their whole week’s hustle of responsibilities and ever tiring and stressful activities they all encountered and eventually became learning experiences. Afterall, the seminarians realized that they were all worth living for because they served as big inspiration to continue in their formation years. The only words came to their mouth were “DEO GRATIAS,” and that meant a lot.
