According to Wikipedia, Pabasa (Spanish: pasión) is a narrative description of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ woven into a poem with stanzas of five lines and each line having eight syllables. Pasion is very popular in the Philippines during the season of Lent which is usually read (actually sung) at home or any other place where people gather. The article also said it is a form of religious expression, meditation and reflection.

The indigenization of the pasyon was begun by Gaspar Aquino de Belén in Ang Mahal na Passion ni JesuCristong Panginoon Natin na Tola (The poem of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ), published in 1703 or 1704.

The more popular version of the pasyon is the Casaysayan nang Pasiong Mahal ni Jesucristong Panginoon Natin na Sucat Ipag-alab nang Puso nang Sinomang Babasa (The History of the Passion of Jesus Christ our Lord that will set afire the heart of whosoever reads it).

An 1852 erudition by Aniceto de Merced, El libro de la vida (The Book of Life), did not, however become popular with the masses.

Today, we can hear Pabasa being sung into modern tunes. Some are even playing musical accompaniment like guitar or rondalla.

Our church, Day by Day Christian Ministries’ flagship ministry is cultural redemption. Briefly, this means cultures must be filtered, consecrated, and offered back at the feet of Jesus Christ, to be used only for His glory. I’ll be writing a post on cultural redemption soon. Anyways, pasyon or pabasa is one of many Filipino tradition that needs to be redeemed. And we have redeemed it for the glory of God!

Pabasang Kristiano as we call it is being conducted yearly at different Day by Day daughter and satellite churches. Last Saturday was my first time to witness how Pabasa is being done. I had a hard time singing the verses. haha. We used the book that Pastor Ed Lapiz wrote, which is being used for years now. FYI, the content was based on the Bible.

As I hear them singing, the words I heard were painting on my mind the picture of what Jesus did during His time. By just listening, I was able to reflect on the sufferings that my Savior experienced for me to have an everlasting life. Many people find it so “badoy”. But for me, the time spent listening to the chants made me realized the great things about my Redeemer. In between chapters of the Pabasa were exhortations by assigned members. The messages were great. They even challenged me to preach the Gospel that was shared to me. I’m talking Matthew 28 which was the last part of the Pabasa. It was time that Jesus ordered us to go and make disciples of all nations.

This season, take time to reflect. Go back to the Bible and remember the work that Jesus did on the cross.

More From inspiringentries

• JE # 110 – The Rapture
• JE # 48 – My Saturday
• JE # 28 – Why Do You Work?

DOON PO SA ATIN – The first ever special joint worship and fellowship of Day by Day Christian Ministries. Join us on February 17, Sunday at Bulwagan ng Panginoon, Folk Arts Theater CCP Complex, Pasay City. Pastor Ed Lapiz will lead us. It will start at 10 in the morning.

If you can’t come, watch us live via Yahoo! Messenger. Just add up “dbdcmws” on your list and request to join the conference.

See you.

More From inspiringentries

• JE # 129 – Doon Pa sa Atin 2009
• JE # 53 – The Choice
• JE # 126 – Why Kill Your Daughter?

Soon we’ll be able to watch clips from Pastor Ed’s sermons on Youtube!

Visit this URL : http://www.youtube.com/edlapiz

You may want to watch our Praise and Worship Videos here.

Some of Pastor Ed’s sermons in mp3 format are here.

Thanks. God bless you.

More From inspiringentries

• JE # 53 – The Choice
• JE # 126 – Why Kill Your Daughter?
• JE # 63 – How You Treat God

my brother noli has something to share about Thy Marketplace’s Gift-giving last Saturday and his worship last Sunday at Day by Day Christian Ministries.

hi guys,

let me just share you the experience i had during the gift giving activity last saturday along with our other workers for the Lord…the yearly activity once again reminded me of my humble beginning years back…i could have opted to spend the weekends with my family, but reaching out to those less fortunate in life has brought bliss to my soul..

with our measly gift, around 30 or 20 pesos plus the food package of sandwich, one china apple, jellyace, and funchum juice, hundreds of smiles hovered the place even just for few minutes… undoubtedly, the ecstatic moment surely transcended to the angels above as children excitedly opened their gifts….it was really fulfilling to have a noble cause like it… the more i was inspired to strive more in order to start a benevolent undertaking in the near future…

it was also revelead to me by the Lord that, what we have sometimes could not be equated to happiness or a shield to sadness, but by mere sharing our lives, in order to connect to those person in need, is what He’s been asking for…

my two days stay at manila gave me the opportunity to broke my routine since i joined my bsp family last january… as far as i can remember, the last time i spent my weekends in manila was sometime in june when i also participated a GK activity at muntinlupa...

comes sunday…..

my sunday was comparably worthy with me attending at Day by Day at Folk Arts Theater with Bren… (tnx Bren) i witnessed how God conquered the lives of many across ages…young children has already been serving the Lord with their talents, dancing and singing, passionately in front of thousands attendees…

much to my sight delight was my yearning to hear the word delivered by no less than Pastor Ed Lapiz…the sharing was all about how Jacob deceived his father Isaac, that could be found at the book of Genesis…we might all be familiar with the story but lots of new learning came to me as i attentively listen and heatfully digest every insights that came from the Lord…

after the service, i decided not to join the Christmas party of bren and company at dampa, though i was invited..the options of either heading to MOA or playing badminton after having lunch crossed in my mind…

at the doorsteps of folk arts, bren and I bought a newly published book of Pastor Ed entitled Happines is Relationship back to back with Happines is Attitude… it is only a single book with two different genres with biblical adaptations and logical applications to our lives upon looking happiness… it costed me 100 bucks and we have it authographed by pastor Ed himself… =) it was the idea of bren though..



impatiently looking for a PUV to buendia, (which there was none pala in that area) i took a cab and reached MOA… i dined at El Polo Loco and while waiting for my food, i was having a glance at my newly acquired reading.. it caught my interest and unnoticeably, ive finished almost half of the part of Happiness is Relationship...(sounds frustrated..hehehe)

i continued to delight myself with the possible gift
to myself and to my loved ones but i failed to get even a single item..hehehe... tnx God for the reminder about Threats of Live during the church service… i could have impulsively swiped my magnetic card again…further, i spent few minutes at powerbooks, but i didnt see my desired item, likewise….

i still played badminton, finished reading the the book half part of the book, talked to my friend over the phone for nearly two hours, worked for my ministry, and finally slept…

my life became sweeter than before!!!!

-Noli

More From inspiringentries

• JE # 100 – Sweet Return to Christ 1
• JE # 36 – Why God Rested?
• Journal Entry # 17 – Death (reflections from Kapuso Mo Jesica Soho)