What are the odds that two religious celebrations would be celebrated on the same weekend?
This past Sunday, the annual fiesta of Our Lady of Remedies and the feast of Christ the King fell on the same Sunday. Both feasts are significant in that they both honor two of the most revered figures in Christian religion.
Christ the King is celebrated on the last Sunday of Ordinary time which is the week before the start of Advent. That means Christmas is only four weeks away (but that's another story). The feast is significant since it concretizes the belief of Christ's all-embracing authority as Lord of all creation. The Universe is his realm and He exercises supreme control over all of thing "seen and unseen" as indicated in the Nicean creed.
The terms Christ and messiah (Greek and Jewish, respectively) both mean the same thing - the annointed one. As He suffered and died in atonement for our transgressions of God's law, we are reminded that his death signified our freedom from the bondage of sin. And we in turn, surrender to God's power and relinquish all authority on Jesus Christ and we submit to His divine rule.
On the other hand, the feast of Remedios is celebrated every third Sunday of November. I've blogged about it in my earlier posts. To quote my earlier post: Malate Church, which was built by the Augustinians as a Visita has it's own Catholic School run by RVM Sisters (originally established from Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo's Cofradia) and the Nstra. Senora de los Remedios is now administered by the Columbans mostly of Irish priests who were running the Malate Catholic School during the American period until after the Liberation of Manila up to the present.
Devotees flock to Malate Church to request for healing, either spiritual or physical, financial aid, emotional strength and every conceivable petition any Catholic follower would ever need. There is also a special Mass for children at nine a.m.every Sunday.
Our Lady of Remedies never fails to hear Her children's prayers. Every year, she is brought down from her pedestal in the main altar of the church. The original image, brought from Spain during colonial times was destroyed during the bombing of Manila in WWII. Nonetheless, Malate's designer's row has a cotery of coutouriers who take turns in dressing up the image year after year. Our Lady of Remedies patiently waits for her children in her resplendent robes.
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