Millions of Catholic faithful are taking part today in the annual Black Nazarene Feast. Its rituals include the Pahalik, in which devotees line up to touch and kiss the image of Señor Nazareno at the Quirino Grandstand; and the Traslacion, in which the image is carried by bare-footed devotees back to Quiapo Church in Manila.
This year is the 408th anniversary of the Black Nazarene, also referred to as “Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno.”
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| Fast Facts About the Black Nazarene. Source: gmanetwork.com |
And a meaningful prayer from The Manila Times:
Nuestro Padre Nazareno have mercy on us, the Filipino Nation.
Please save us from the evil intentions of those who are in power, from their greed, corruption and hypocrisy, and from their persistent efforts to perpetuate injustice, to trash the rule of law, the Philippine Constitution and the teachings of the Church.
(The Black Nazarene image came to the Philippines from Mexico during the Galleon Trade. It is said that it was sculpted by an Aztec woodworker.
Devotees swear to Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno’s miraculous powers. Orthodox Catholic doctrine of course agrees that the mere commitment of a person who had previously been turned away from the one True God (in the Trinity of the Father, the Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit) is a miracle in itself. But many temporal petitions made by devotees to Nuestro Padre Nazareno have indeed been granted. Some of these have been impossible cures from horrible illnesses or the relatively “easy” one of finding a job. But the greatest miracle of all, which even believers take for granted, is the change in the attitude to God and religion, and the conversion from a life of vice to a life of virtue and tenderness that happens to husbands, sons and daughters—or even mothers-in-law—of Catholics who have become close to Jesus the Nazarene.)
