One correction from yesterday’s post.
There weren’t fourteen stops on the procession reflecting the fourteen
stations of the cross. That was an
assumption on my part that turned out to be wrong. There were five stops where we came to a halt
and read a Gospel reading (from the Passion chapters of St. John’s Gospel), read
a meditation from the writings of Luigi Giussani (the event was sponsored by
the local Communion and Liberation movement), listened to a mini homily by Fr.
Richard Veras (my pastor at St. Rita’s who I mentioned here
), and sang hymns. The five stations
were (1) at St. James Cathedral in Brooklyn, (2) at the Brooklyn Bridge, (3) at
City Hall in Manhattan, (4) at Ground Zero where 9-11 World Trade Center
tragedy occurred, and (5) at St. Peter’s Church in Lower Manhattan.
This is inside the St. James Cathedral where the Communion and Liberation Choir were
magnificent.
And then onto the Brooklyn streets.
The highlight for me was the procession over the Brooklyn Bridge. I had never walked over before. I took lots of wonderful pictures which I'll have to reserve for another photo essay. The tall building on the left with the antenna is the new Liberty Tower that replaced the Twin Towers that collapsed.
You can see the hundreds of people in front of me, and I would say there were even more behind me. There must have been a thousand people that participated. At the head of the procession was a man carrying a wooden cross, but
within the crowd there was a man carrying a statue of a black Jesus carrying
his cross.
At Ground Zero. We weren’t actually at Ground Zero since the
construction has closed it off, but about a block away. I didn’t get a good picture but I have this.
And finally at St. Peter’s. It looks a lot prettier on the inside than the outside.
It was a great experience. The
only difficulty was getting to a bathroom.
The bus left in the morning at 8:30 and the last station was at about
1:30 PM. Thank God St. Peter’s had a
bathroom for us to use, even though the line was very long.
UPDATE (April, 19, 2014 @ 9:19 AM):
New York Post reports this morning that over 3000 participated in the
procession. Whoo hoo!
That’s a better turn out than I imagined.
Thank you for sharing with us. It is good when Christians go out and witness their Faith.
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter to you and yours.
God bless.
Wonderful that so many participated! I love to be among an enthusiastic group of the faithful. The March for Life has that same atmosphere. It also has the same bathroom issue. :/
ReplyDeleteWonderful to know many still do this on Good Friday.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless you and yours.
Have a Blessed and Happy Easter
(((Thank God St. Peter’s had a bathroom for us to use, even though the line was very long.)))
ReplyDeleteYes Manny! Reality will continue to happen until Jesus comes back in Glory. :)
Nice Pictures!
Happy Easter to you and your family
Thank you all and bless you. Hope you all had a wonderful Resurection Sunday.
ReplyDelete