Senor Nazareno.

The Black Nazarene at the Minor Basilica in Quiapo.

The famed Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila is close to my heart. At age 7 years or maybe even younger, I had been brought there by an aunt.

It was a regular devotion. I was a child suffering from asthma so my Aunt took me with her on her Friday novenas to pray for good health. She would walk on her knees down the aisle towards the altar and I would walk with my feet with her.

After the mass, we'd fall in line to kiss the Black Nazarene.

Wikipedia says that "The Black Nazarene, known to devotees in Spanish as Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno (Tagalog: Poong Itim na Nazareno; Spanish: El Cristo Nazareno Negro) is a life-sized, dark wooden sculpture of Jesus Christ carrying the cross while representing his passion and agony and is believed to be miraculous by many Filipino Catholics.

A Replica of the Black Nazarene, displayed outside the Basilica.

Originally with fair complexion, it turned dark after it survived a burning galleon ship on its arrival from Mexico. The image is currently in the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo district, Manila, Philippines where it is venerated weekly with Friday Novena Masses.

The statue is celebrated on three annual occasions, and comes out of its own basilica each New Year's Day, Good Friday and on January 9, celebrating its novena feast, transfer (Spanish: Traslación) and enshrinement in the present Basilica, and is attended by several million devotees."

An older sister was also taken to the novenas and even wore the Black Nazarene's red robe.

On the feast days of the Black Nazarene on January 9th, we would be spectators for years of the most spectacular procession held in the Philippines. Those years, the processions were not as crowded as today; kids were still able to participate.

My Aunt became a devout Black Nazarene devotee because she told us that it was in one of her novenas that she had the vision of the man she would finally marry; my Uncle.

The Friday devotion to Senor Nazareno was special to me as a child; it also meant seeing Hollywood movies along the cinemas in Avenida Rizal and feasting at Wa Nam, a Chinese restaurant.

In the years ahead and into adulthood, my Friday novena to the Black Nazarene didn't take place anymore. It became sporadic. It became a 10-minute prayer as I passed the Church on my way to shopping for shoes in Carriedo, or going to the movies in Sta. Cruz, or on my way to U.P. Diliman and home.

Procession on the Feast Day of Senor Nazareno, January 9.

In my recent over stay in Manila, I re-discovered the Black Nazarene of Quiapo again. As I was not a regular member of any church, I worshipped in a number of churches: at the Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord in Megamall, at the San Andres Apostol in Cainta, St. Francis in Mandaluyong, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Baclaran, and the Basilica in Quiapo.

Thousands of devotess reach out to the Black Nazarene.

These days if I attend the  Friday novena to Senor Nazareno, it is no longer the Hollywood movies that I look forward to after the mass, but shopping for fresh vegetables and fruits along Villalobos and reminishing the Quiapo days of my childhood.

Senor Nazareno maybe a spectacle to foreign tourists, an event to capture on cameras, but to its millions of devotees, He remains a source of healing and miracles.