Wednesday, April 15, 2009

VISIT OF THE 7 SHRINES- MAUNDY THURSDAY-

We catholics believe by faith in the  the transformation of the bread into the body of Christ and the wine into the blood of Christ and it transformations staying. Maundy Thursday after evening mass the Eucharist is taken out of the altar shrine symbolizing that Jesus can not be found there because the passion starts and during that night it is put in  a special altar built for the adoration of the people. This symbolizing us praying with him as the apostles did in the Garden of Getsemani.

Why seven? Seven in always a symbolic number in the Church and in The Bible, the visitation of seven churches could be related to the seven main churches in Rome.

It can be any seven. Some weeks we have done all in the Historic downtown, other times we have done 7 churches close to home, other times we have driven to Antigua. This year we only did 4 (3 downtown and 1 near home) the girls were too tires after a friends and family traditional lunch -Bacalao a la Viscaina, arroz, tamalitos, curtido, empanadas-  we had that day.


9.31 PM Church of La Recolección




10.08 Iglesia de San Sebastián



In the Main Nave the Altar Shrine is empty. On Maundy Thursday Altars are almost always built on a secondary nave or chapel as is the case here. 

 10.31 PM. Iglesia de Santa Catarina


You can see in this church the follow the tradition of covering the saints and any image non related to The Passion.



11.14 Santuario Maria Auxiliadora (near my parents house)




2 comments:

Nancy said...

Curiosamente de mis recuerdos católicos de la semana santa, la visita de altares es lo único que recuerdo sin dolor. Nosotros visitábamos las iglesias de Xela y me gustaba ver a mi papá que saludaba a medio mundo. Él es de Xela, pero ha vivido en la capital desde mediados del siglo pasado.

Erica said...

Hello! I just saw your comment on Erin's blog. I'm mother to two wonderful children adopted in Guatemala. They are only 3 years old, but I want to absorb as much knowlege about their country of birth as possible. I hope we will return to Guatemala with them many times as they get older, to do charitable work, and so they can know their country. Gracias!