APPARITION HILL (PODBRDO)
"PEACE, PEACE, PEACE, AND ONLY PEACE! PEACE MUST BEGIN TO REIGN BETWEEN GOD AND MAN AND BETWEEN MEN"

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We met our local tour guide in front of her hotel, P1030164_65.jpg. At this point, the children were caught up in a divine breeze to the attention of the flash up in the mountain. They ran up to the location of apparition, for their first divine appointment. From this ground location we could see people moving up in the hill, we started to walk in a short distance to the foot of the hill.

The uphill landscape changed drastically, and remained for the rest of the climb. Large rocks, boulders made the pathway, which was rough terrain like moonscape. There was not much of a pathway, climbers walked around and about in the least resistance path when the trails seemed to disappear or became difficult. We were warned of bringing good climbing shoes, like the tennis shooes, and hiking stick which were very valuable tools for the climb. There was no safety device of any kind for the pilgrims climbing on this mountain. People were to determine to walk by Faith, not by Sight. We had folks in the 60s to above 80s, physically challenged in many ways in our group, they could have climbed with the divine power, yet everyone was safe up to the hills and down all the way to the end. The landscape images on this page might not be interesting, yet to anyone unfamiliar to the experience of being here on the mountain, its the spiritual intriguing place, and divine. The divine power of the 14 Stations of the Crosses and the Apparition drew people to the top of the Hill, in millions year after year.

As suggested, begin to pray on the Hill of Apparitions, as the visionaries did. As you pray the Rosary on this hill, pause at every decade of each of the Mysteries in front of each station that depicts a scene of the life of Jesus and Mary. To pray the Rosary means to be with Jesus and Mary. At each of the Mysteries, contemplate on your own life as well.

Seemed like half of the Cross Stations were in the ascending climb, the other half in the descending, there was no station marking. We sometimes waited for other groups finishing their praying at the stations to move closer for our turn, and went on to the next station. The afternoon air in November on the hill was mild; the praying experience was very much contemplating in ambiance of the holy mountain.

We reached the apparition site, the Blessed Mother stood on the inclined hill surrounded by many bouquets of roses, IMG_0561.jpg. The place was crowded with people enclosing around the Mother's. It was an awesome sight. We rested longer here to say our prayer of the heart desire, many circled around the Blessed Mother in standing or kneeling on top the rocky landscape. Its time to depart, we turned downhill thereafter. In the distance on the other higher mountain was the White Cross Mountain, we could barely see the Cross on the top, P1030201.jpg. Yet tomorrow was another climb of Faith, much higher than this mountain. Today the climb was holy and inspiring, we kept the first mountain climbing experience in our heart.


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+_________STATIONS of the CROSS________+

Known as Way of the Cross, Via Crucis, Via Dolorosa. Way of Sorrows, or simply, The Way.

Refers to the depiction of the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) and extended throughout the Catholic Church in the medieval period. It is less often observed in the Anglican and Lutheran churches. It may be done at any time, but is most commonly done during the Season of Lent, especially on Good Friday and on Friday evenings during Lent.

+___Traditional form___+

The Stations themselves are usually a series of 14 pictures or sculptures depicting the following scenes:
1. Jesus is condemned to death
2. Jesus receives the cross
3. Jesus falls the first time
4. Jesus meets His Mother
5. Simon of Cyrene carries the cross
6. Veronica wipes Jesus' face with her veil
7. Jesus falls the second time
8. Jesus meets the daughters of Jerusalem
9. Jesus falls the third time
10. Jesus is stripped of His garments
11. Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross
12. Jesus dies on the cross
13. Jesus' body is removed from the cross (Pieta)
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb and covered in incense.


+___Alternate forms___+

___RESURRECTION___

An alternate set of stations is widely used in the Philippines, where most of the population is Roman Catholic. Although not part of the traditional set of Stations, the Resurrection of Jesus is now more and more integrated as part of The Way. Usually at the end of these stations there is a place where one can light candles and place them upon an altar.
Note that this form departs from the traditional form by including the resurrection (see later section on the place of the resurrection in the Stations).
1. Jesus institutes the Eucharist
2. Jesus prays in Gethsemane
3. Jesus before the Sanhedrin
4. Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns
5. Jesus carries the cross to Calvary
6. Jesus falls under the weight of the cross
7. Jesus is helped by Simon of Cyrene
8. Jesus meets the pious women of Jerusalem
9. Jesus is nailed on the cross
10. Jesus promises Heaven to the repentant thief
11. Jesus entrusts Mary and John to each other
12. Jesus suffers and dies on the cross
13. Jesus is taken down from the cross, and is laid in the tomb
14. Jesus rises from the dead

____SCRIPTURAL Way of the Cross___

Out of the fourteen traditional Stations of the Cross, only eight have scriptural foundation: Stations 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9 being unattested in any of the gospels; and Station 13 being a misrepresentation of the gospel account (it represents Jesus's body being taken down off the cross and laid into the arms of Mary, while all four gospels state that Joseph of Arimathea alone took Jesus down from the cross and buried him). In order to correct these deficiencies, Pope John Paul II introduced a new form of devotion, called the Scriptural Way of the Cross on Good Friday 1991. He celebrated that form thereafter at the Colosseum in Rome. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI approved this set of stations for meditation and public celebration: They follow this sequence:
1. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemani,
2. Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested,
3. Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin,
4. Jesus is denied by Peter,
5. Jesus is judged by Pilate,
6. Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns,
7. Jesus takes up his cross,
8. Jesus is helped by Simon to carry his cross,
9. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem,
10. Jesus is crucified,
11. Jesus promises his kingdom to the good thief,
12. Jesus entrusts Mary and John to each other,
13. Jesus dies on the cross,
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb.


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