5 online sites to help rekindle your spirituality this Holy Week

By Melissa G. Bagamasbad | Lifestyle Section, InterAksyon.coma Tuesday, April 15, 2014 10:13 am

In this age of digital communication, websites like the CBCPs Visit Iglesia site are accessible. Image from visitaiglesia.net.

Reviving your spirituality on the last days of the Lenten season can be a virtual, tech-savvy experience, notes Fr. Javy Alpasa, SJ. We need to be where the people are, he explained.

In the age of digital communication, spiritual education has become even more accessible with various social media sites engaged on the topic. Facebook fan pages, blogs on spirituality by Christians and religious groups, for instance, have been gaining following for their interactive discussions, including offering contact numbers for spiritual counseling. There are also mobile apps such as the Meditation Timer that helps schedule its users meditation cycles, complete with Tibetan singing bowls.

Fr. Javy recommends prayers, fasting and abstinence, and making sacrifices, he also shares other activities one can do during Holy Week.

1. Visit a prayer site.. sacredspace.ie, an Irish-based prayer site, for instance, has ready-made prayers for your needs and intentions. You can choose a date, then print the prayer. Together with the prayer is a passage from the Bible, or scripture. There are also reflection points afterward, which allow the user to look at his feelings, personal life and actions, to name a few. An audio version is also available.

2. Watch spiritual programs on television or online. Masses and spiritual talks can also be viewed through live streaming. On Good Friday, Fr. Javy recommends viewing the Seven Last Words on IBC 13, from 12 noon to 3 p.m. Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle will be one of the homilists.

3. Go on a recollection. There will be one at the Ateneo de Manila University on Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City starting Maundy Thursday until Black Saturday; sessions will be held from morning till noon at Escaler Hall (Call +632 426-6001 for details.) There will be points for reflection to be given, with a liturgy to follow in the afternoon.

4. Do the Visita Iglesia. It doesnt even have to be far. Go to any church near your place, he said. If one cannot accomplish one station per church for the Stations of the Cross, it can also be two stations per church, according to him. [It is for] family bonding and fellowship, he said, adding the old adage, the family that prays together, stays together. The CBCP has an online Visita Iglesia, visit http://visitaiglesia.net/2014/.

On Good Friday, Fr. Javy also recommends doing thepasyon, together with the liturgical services at church. The Veneration of the Cross can also be done at any church. On Black Saturday, all churches have a vigil as well.