I have been a devotee of the Black Nazarene for nine years now. I started my devotion when I was 16 years old, when my father brought me along, together with my uncles.
Since then I have been a devotee of the Nazarene because I believe in Him. I am forever grateful for all the blessings I receive, and for His being there to support me when I experience challenges. He inspires me to fight on when I have trials.
During Traslación processions, I always struggle and jostle to get on top of the karosa (carriage). I wipe my handkerchief on the Black Nazarene, then I wipe the handkerchief on my body because I believe it will give me strength and good health.
When I get down from the carriage, I join the throng of devotees holding the rope that pulls the carriage. There, I solemnly pray while walking barefoot.
After the Traslación, I feel good as if I didn’t get body pains from the pushing and jostling. I feel light, feeling refreshed. It was worth all the difficulties I experience.
Many in our family and relatives have a devotion to the Black Nazarene—my mother, father, titos (uncles), titas (aunties), cousins and my lola (grandmother). They have been a devotee for a long time before I got into it.
We were influenced because of my family’s strong faith in the Lord.
My prayer to Him is to keep my family safe, keep us from harm and make us healthy always. These, to me, are big blessings already.
Even if I don’t get the material things I pray for, I always receive blessings I didn’t expect, which give me more joy. All the graces I receive, whether big or small, I heartfully thank Him always.
Our family’s devotion to the Black Nazarene has a big effect on us because we pray and thank the Lord together for all the blessings that He gives us every day. It is also the time when we ask for forgiveness for all the sins that we have committed.
Our devotion is already a tradition in our family where we say all the things we want to the Lord and make Him feel that our faith in Him is strong.
Whenever I join the Traslación, I repeatedly asks the Black Nazarene to forgive me for my sins, and I thank Him for all His blessings. I close my eyes, feel His presence and silently pray.
After I’ve said all my troubles, I look up to the sky, I breathe deeply, and in my mind shout out loud, “Thank You, Lord.”
I will continue my devotion to the Black Nazarene as long as I live, because I believe this is the way to give thanks to the Lord.
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At the midnight Mass for the feast of the Black Nazarene at Manila’s Quirino Grandstand on Wednesday, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila had warned against fanaticism and appealed for real devotion that opens one’s heart to God and other people.
He said that piety is embracing God and others with true love.
“A real devotee loves. The essence of devotion is love,” Tagle said in his homily, the CBCPNews said.
On the other hand, he said, fanatics “only hold to something that gives value to them.”
“A fanatic, once he does not get what he wants, will stop,” he said. “But a devotee does not share the same reasoning. You are devoted because you love him or her. That’s what Jesus showed us.”
To love, according to him, is among the characteristics of the true devotion to God.
The two other qualities of a devotee, he added, are faithfulness and oneness with God and other people.
“An overflowing love shows loyalty and service to others,” Tagle added. “And oneness with God and those you love is not an imitation but union.”
Cardinal Tagle also came to the defense of the devotees against accusations of fanaticism.
“It seems that every year it is questioned if that is right and important—being a devotee,” the cardinal said.
“But only devotees will understand it. If you’re not a devotee, you’re going to question it,” he added.
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The Black Nazarene is considered by many Filipino Catholics to be miraculous, with its mere touch reputed to cure diseases. It is venerated by Filipino devotees every Friday.
The image—a life-sized, dark-skinned, kneeling Jesus Christ carrying the Cross depicting Him en route to His crucifixion—got its name from “Nazarene,” identifying Jesus as a native of Nazareth in Galilee and from its dark complexion, Internet sources said.
It is enshrined above the altar of the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, also known canonically as Parish of Saint John the Baptist, or simply Quiapo Church, in the Quiapo district of Manila.
The January 9 Traslación procession is taken from the Spanish term for transfer, referring to “passage” or “movement.” It reenacts the image’s 1787 solemn transfer to the Minor Basilica from the shrine of the Church of San Nicolas de Tolentino, popularly known as the “Recoletos Church,” inside Intramuros.
It is the largest procession, drawing millions of Filipino devotees who wanted to touch the icon and lasting around 20 hours.
Police accounts of the past week’s Traslación festivities put the total crowd estimate at 4 million. The procession from Intramuros to Quiapo took 21 hours, or one hour shorter than last year’s.
The Black Nazarene was carved by a Mexican from a dark wood in the 16th century in Mexico and then transported to the Philippines via galleon from Acapulco, Mexico, on May 31, 1606.
Pope Innocent X granted recognition in 1650 for the promotion of the devotion to Jesus through the icon. It was housed in several churches near Manila in the early decades, arriving in Quiapo Church in 1787, where it has been enshrined ever since.
The image is brought out of its shrine in procession three times a year: January 9, the anniversary of the icon’s transfer: Good Friday, the Nazarene’s liturgical feast commemorating the culmination of the Passion of Christ; and December 31, New Year’s Eve, the first day of its annual novena.
Traditional accounts attribute the icon’s dark color to votive candles burning before the image, or it was charred by a fire on the galleon that brought it from Mexico.
Web sources said Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr. from Loyola School of Theology explained that the image was not charred but in fact, dark through to its core, as it was carved from mesquite wood found in Mexico and the US.
Vengco based this claim on personal research in Mexico, where the wood was a popular medium in the period the image was carved. He also likened it to Our Lady of Antipolo, another popular image of similar appearance.
The image was first enshrined in the Church of San Juan Bautista of the Augustinian Recollects at Bagumbayan, Luneta. In 1608, the image was transferred to the Church of San Nicolas de Tolentino.