religion can be individually defined.

I got this picture from Yahoo News.

"That's scary" is what first struck my mind when I saw this picture. First, the maroon color illuminates a sense of mystery, of depth, of sacrifice and of poverty. Second is the mass of devotees that is just too many in that, every year, I expect injuries or deaths from this traditional religious event in Quiapo, Manila.

I've been a pious Roman Catholic as a child and grew up going to church every Sunday and attending legionary sessions before masses during Saturday or Sundays. However, as I have grown, my Catholic traditions have been diffused as a shadow. At one point in my life, I was an atheist. Until gradually in the present, I believe in divine intervention and more of the spiritual life as a life dedicated to achieving balance and equality in the world and restoring what once was good relationships between peoples

And as I see the devotees of the Black Nazarene, I somehow see despair. Would God want you to get injured or killed just to let Him know how devoted you are to Him? Would God want His people to offer Him  golds and diamonds, instead of kindness or humane living? I think not.

I'm not scared of death, for I know I have lived my life the way I want it. I'm not rooting for Heaven since I was aiming to experience Heaven on Earth. I am not expecting life after death, since there isn't just enough evidence from science that we can, but I playfully believe in reincarnation and karma. I believe not in Jesus as King but Jesus as the first community organizer and defender of welfare of the many. I trust that the World was not made through creation but from the gradual evolution of the cosmos. I don't go t church on Sundays anymore, but I spend my Saturdays and some of my Sundays, with the less fortunate to make them feel someone cares for them, like Jesus. I define my religion or... I'd rather not call it a religion, but my spirituality.

This picture is also from Yahoo News.

What I see with the Black Nazarene is poverty, wherein people struggle to get their selves to the altar walking  in their knees, to make a sick relative healed. I see people, without any other ways to solve their problems (because they are just too poor to do so) cling to the word of God and His miracles. This worldview has been passed on to us in the more than 300 years that we were in the hands of Spain.

I am not saying we shouldn't continue these traditions, for I'm scared of being bashed as righteous. But, what I  hope people to do, especially on the bottom of the pyramid, is to reflect why they do so, and what made them do so. Isn't sitting quietly in prayer with one-on-one conversation with Him nearly enough to tell Him how much you love Him and trust your life in Him?

What has kept me in wonder for many years now is that of my Japanese friends' attitude of being helpful. They are not Christians and are definitely not Catholics, but they are humanitarian.

See other pictures from here.