Popular devotion and a thirst for peace and justice: Good Friday for Asian Christians
In the Philippines, more than six million people joined the Alay Lakad, the nighttime pilgrimage in Antipolo, while in Quezon province, a group of farmers interrelated the stories of the Passion with their own struggle to defend their lands. In Arunachal Pradesh, young people are celebrating the Easter Triduum by praying for religious harmony in India. The World Council of Churches in South Korea called for conversion and shared a prayer dedicated to the painful division between North and South.
Milan (AsiaNews) – Across Asia, Christian communities are celebrating Good Friday today with rites of popular devotion, sacred representations, and significant gestures and words of conversion from the evils of our time.
More than six million Catholics gathered early this morning at the Antipolo Cathedral for the annual tradition of Alay Lakad (walk offering), one of the foremost pilgrimages in the Philippines during Holy Week. The faithful reached the shrine after walking throughout the night from various locations in Metro Manila and Rizal, expressing penance and gratitude.
Known as the Pilgrimage Capital of the Philippines, Antipolo is a key site commemorating the Passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Bishop Ruperto Santos of Antipolo thanked the faithful who took part in the Alay Lakad, emphasising that their observance of the tradition every Holy Thursday is a clear sign of the strong and living faith of the Filipinos.
Maria Lourdes Lim, a mother of four, spoke to AsiaNews about this event, saying that “the annual pilgrimage is part of our family tradition to repent, renew ourselves, and love the Lord”. Remembering her parents who also performed this gesture from Manila, she added that, “The tradition is a form of our love for Jesus”.
Likewise, Ryan Villanueva, another pilgrim, noted that participating in the Alay Lakad firmly strengthens one's faith.
Also in the Philippines, but in Quezon province, popular devotion this year provided the opportunity to give voice to the thirst for justice.
In the town of Sariaya, farmers who lost their land after the revocation of their Certificates of Title Assignment (CLOA) turned to the Holy Week tradition of reading the Pasyong Mahal (Passion Love) to find strength to continue their fight to regain their fields.
Danny Carranza, secretary general of the Movement for Genuine Agrarian Reform and Social Justice (Kilusan Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo at Katarungang Panlipunan, Katarungan), told the Philippines Inquirer that this practice is not only a reminder of Jesus’s sacrifice, but also a living testimony to their ongoing struggle for dignity and rights.
Since Holy Wednesday, affected farmers in several wards (barangays) in Sariaya, especially those without a CLOA and others fearing the loss of their land rights, have organised the pabasa, or communal reading of the Passion. Coconut farmers also joined in this religious ritual.
The Pasyong Mahal is a text in Filipino that recounts the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and is traditionally sung or read continuously during Holy Week, often until the afternoon of Good Friday.
In India, some 400 young people in the northeastern Diocese of Miao are participating in the third annual Yotuh Pascha in St George's Parish in Deomali.
“Your prayers are needed for our country now more than ever,” said Bishop George Palliparambil, highlighting the challenges facing the world and the country: war, hatred, social unrest, and religious discrimination, including violence against Christians.
The latter scourge is aggravated by political interests that amplify divisions for electoral gain, threatening the social fabric and peaceful coexistence.
For his part, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi published a post on X today, reiterating the significance of this day for Christians.
“Good Friday reminds us of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. May this day further deepen the values of harmony, compassion and forgiveness. May brotherhood and hope guide us all,” the prime minister wrote.
Finally, in South Korea, the local chapter of the World Council of Churches published a prayer for Easter that mentions the ever-open wound of the separation between north and south.
“God, we confess our sin.
Even as we speak of peace, we have deepened distrust and chosen confrontation.
Even as we speak of reconciliation, we have excluded one another.
Even as we speak of coexistence, we have pursued only our own interests.
Even as we speak of life, we have relied on military power and the logic of hostility,
Merciful God, awaken us from this foolishness and turn us back to you,
May the South and the North lay down hostility and move toward peace.
Lead us beyond the armistice toward a true peace system,
and toward the path of a peace treaty.
Let broken relationships be restored.
Let blocked paths be opened, so that exchange and cooperation may begin again.
Teach us to speak words of respect instead of threat,
and to build lasting trust beyond temporary interests.”
(Santosh Digal contributed to this article)
Photo: a sacred representation of the Passion of Jesus in a village of the Apostolic Vicariate of Kompong Cham in Cambodia (from the Catholic Church in Cambodia profile).
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