Visita Iglesia - "Church Visitation" - is a Lenten tradition, usually done on Holy Thursday. The point is to visit 7 churches, and in each one, to pray and meditate upon the 14 Stations of the Cross. This year, we visited the churches on the eastern side of Rizal and Laguna provinces, beginning with the historic Church of Our Lady of Peace & Good Voyage (Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje) in the city of Antipolo in Rizal.

This is a tableau painting in bas-relief depicting the arrival of the icon of Our Lady from Acapulco, Mexico, which then-Governor-General Juan Niño de Tabora bequeathed to the Jesuits for the church in Antipolo. To this day, devotees from all over the country and around the world come to Antipolo in a pilgrimage to Our Lady.

The original belfry still stands after more than 400 years and an extremely strong earthquake, but the church itself had to be rebuilt with what little funds the old town could muster. This is the Church of Our Lady of Candelaria in the town of Mabitac, Laguna. To keep it safe from floods, it was built on top of the town's highest hill, called Calvario (Calvary) and looks out to the blue Laguna Bay and its neighboring towns. One can climb up 126 steep and narrow stone steps from the town-level to reach the church.

I was pleasantly surprised and awed to find this magnificent modern-Romanesque church dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul in the small town of Siniloan, Laguna. The rich wooden ceilings are breathtaking!

The table is set for the reenactment of "the Last Supper" during Holy Thursday Mass, when the parish priest will represent Jesus Christ on that fateful night and will wash the feet of each of the 12 Apostles portrayed by lay ministers.