THE CHRISTMAS season conjures a
flurry of bright images. And if you are
a Roman Catholic, you expect your
parish church, no matter how small, or
even your community chapels, to be well-lighted.
And as the birth of Jesus Christ nears, churches are all
aglow--from the historic Basilica del Santo Ni?o in Cebu City
and the San Sebastian Cathedral in the heart of Bacolod City
with their multitude of tiny electric bulbs, to the kerosene-fired
lanterns in makeshift chapel-cum-classroom in a hinterland
village of Antique.
In key Visayan cities
like Cebu, Iloilo,
Tacloban, Tagbilaran,
Bacolod or Dumaguete,
the glowing churches
complement the lights
and decorations strung
on trees lining the
streets, the parks, the
malls and capitol and
city or municipal halls.
But in Bacolod, one church does not just glow. The St. Jude
Thaddeus Church in Barangay Ilijis, dazzles with hundreds
upon hundreds of tiny lights outlining every inch of the
church.
Just recently completed with a generous personal donation from
President Estrada (made when he was still vice president), the
St. Jude Thaddeus Church can make even the most jaded stop
and stare.
Bacolod Bishop Camilo Gregorio, himself glowing with pride
over the generosity of parishioners who donated the lights
(despite the economic crunch), says there is symbolism there:
'The lights tell us Christ is piercing through our darkness.
'The lights,' Gregorio adds, 'are symbolic because all around us
is physical and material darkness.
'The lights remind us of Christ presence,' he says. 'Through our
darkness he leads us to the end of the tunnel where there is
light.'
[ San Sebastian Cathedral Wiki ]
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