Don’t be afraid to die, priests told

Martyrdom is the crowning glory of our mission – Bishop Soc

Archbishop Socrates “Soc” Villegas of Lingayen Dagupan said priests should not be afraid to die

or be killed for the Lord.

“Death is not a threat. It is our destiny,” Villegas emphasized in a CBCP News post.

“To be killed is not a defeat of our mission. Martyrdom is the crowning glory of our mission,” he added.

The prelate said priests should have not accepted ordination if they were afraid to die or be killed.

“Brother priests, make friends with death. Let death not threaten you,” Villegas said.

“The call to the priesthood is a call to die. It is clear. There is no priesthood without victimhood,” he added.

But the prelate said priests

must be “for all season, priests for sunny middays and dark midnights.”

“We must confront with holy anger the more than thirty thousand senseless murders of the poor in the name of a false drug-free society,” said Villegas.

“We must exorcise the creeping culture of vulgarity, obscenity, lewd jokes and lack of good breeding, with the humble power of the Crucified Lord.”

“We must not fear suffering rebukes, being calumniated, forgotten, ridiculed, wronged, or suspected,” he also said.

Villegas was among the bishops and priests who received death threats for being critical of the government’s brutal war on drugs.

Black Saturday

Meanwhile, Roman Catholics observe Black or Holy Saturday with traditional activities that had been passed on to generations of devout Filipino Catholics starting with the observance of the Day of the Entombed Christ (Santo Entierro) during the day and the Easter Vigil at night.

In churches around the country, the faithful traditionally offer prayers and light candles before the image of the Sacred Entombed Christ.

More elaborate rites are observed in some areas such as in Paete, Laguna, where the Santo Entierro is smoked several times over burning lanzones peelings. During the procession, the shoulder-borne “calandra” makes several stops along the processional route, and is placed over a fire with the peelings of the fruit that is abundant in Laguna. A lone crier then shouts towards the bier, "Señor! Misericordia, Señor!" ("Lord! Mercy, Lord!"), to which devotees reply, "Misericordia, Señor!" ("Mercy, Lord!").

In Lipa City, Batangas, the Santo Entierro funeral procession at midnight is traditionally very solemn and quiet. The image is interred in a chapel nearest the parish, simulating the Holy Sepulchre, and remains locked within until the Easter Vigil.

No masses will be held in all Catholic churches today.

The shift from mourning to joy begins at night with the observance of the Easter Vigil, the third and final day of the Paschal Triduum that began on Maundy Thursday.

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle will preside over the Easter Vigil mass at the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila at 8 p.m. (With a report from Christina I. Hermoso)