The Passion

Later, it was acknowledged that the heat that year had been unusually intense. Further, the weather had been dry, and at the back of the line of penitents scuffing the earth with their bare feet, Danilo must have breathed a lot of dust into his lungs on the walk up the hill. Domingo said that Danilo had complained of a pain in his heart even before the procession started, but Miguel knew that Domingo had been in his house with the blinds still closed before the procession started, and so if Danilo said that he had a pain in his heart, it had not been to Domingo. Besides, anyone would have a pain in their heart if they were preparing to be crucified.

Danilo had watched the crucifixions since he was five years of age. Miguel, who was old, could remember the boy standing with his father, and then, after he was about fifteen, standing alone. Danilo’s mother was known to be very ill, and was never seen, either at the crucifixions or at the church or even at the market. People heard her though, and that is how they knew she was still alive. Miguel remembered she had been a pretty child, but even then given to fits of terror, and he felt sad that she had not outgrown it. One year, Danilo’s uncle on his mother’s side had been crucified for deliverance of his sister from her turmoil, but everyone knows that God will make His own decisions and we must accept His wisdom. Danilo told no-one why he volunteered to be crucified, but every penitent had a reason, and Miguel thought it right that that reason was kept between him and God.

Danilo had certainly not found it easy to bear his cross. Anyone could see how his legs strained to pull it up the hill, and how his back glistened with sweat under the sun. And he had cried out when the nails went in, for which no one could blame him. There were twelve penitents being crucified that Good Friday, and eight cried out. The four who did not had been crucified many times already. Bayani sacrificed himself every year since his daughter was born without sight. Alejandro dedicated his crucifixion to peace in the world, even though he would talk to anyone who would listen about how stupid all of his neighbours were. Joshua had been crucified on each of the fifteen Easters since he was released from prison, except the year his brother died on Good Friday morning. That year he said that he had given enough. Nathaniel never told his reasons to anyone but the Lord, but Miguel was not the only one to think perhaps he enjoyed it.

Tourists came from all over the world to see the crucifixions, and that year was no different. There were 500 people, locals and visitors, on the top of the hill by the time the crosses were raised, and no one left in the village at all, save Danilo’s mother, who never left her house. So it was that when little Carmelita appeared between the bleeding feet of the penitents, with blood on her thighs and her nightdress ripped at the shoulder, 500 people saw her all at once. Some stepped forward, even though the moment was sanctified. Some moved backwards, afraid of what the girl’s appearance might mean. Most stood like statues, not understanding what they saw. On their crosses, the devotees sensed a change and turned their eyes to Heaven.

Later, people said that twenty minutes is all any man can survive on the cross, but others will tell you that this was not the case for Jesus. The crowd had been distracted by the appearance of Carmelita, with some who gathered around her offering care, and others prayer, while others still called for retribution upon whoever had committed a sin of such evil. When the crucified men were remembered, there was a rush to bring them down quickly, as twelve minutes had passed, two more than is usual. Danilo’s cross was the last to be lowered, though Miguel observed that if the men had not been distracted it might have been the first, as Danilo appeared limp and unmoving. When they saw that he was dead, those who were tending him began to shout in alarm, and Carmelita, in her mother’s lap, was seen to shake more violently than ever. Domingo, who had been watching her closely stood up and addressed the crowd.

“God, in his righteousness, has taken this man as punishment for this sin!” he proclaimed, and pointed at Danilo, who’s body was still nailed to the cross. The crowd looked to Carmelita and saw how she trembled and hid her face, and they looked to Danilo, and saw the blood on his hands, and they began to shout and to throw stones, until the men raised the cross up again so that Danilo’s body could be more easily despised.

For the rest of the morning, and into the afternoon, men and women jeered at Danilo on the cross. Some had known him all of his life, and some had known him all of their own lives. Some had never met him at all, but did not neglect to throw a stone at his corpse. Someone found a heavy stick, and beat him about the legs until the skin broke. In the afternoon, Domingo took Carmelita from her mother’s arms and carried the child home himself. “Look,” he told her, “God has heard your pain and He has made this to happen that you may be cleansed.” Miguel saw that the blood had been let to dry on her legs.

By the evening, when Danilo’s mother came wailing up the hill and fell to the floor at the foot of the cross, the indignation of the crowd had burnt to hot embers, and those who were left watched her in her grief and felt themselves chastened. Danilo’s mother, who had not seen the sun set in eighteen years, turned her back upon the death of the day and would not be moved from where the blood of her child dripped upon the crown of her head. Only Domingo said that they should let her be. “She has suffered greatly. Let her go to God if He wills it so.” Even though the women brought food and water to the top of the hill, Danilo’s mother took none, and after two days, on Easter Sunday, she too died.

Later, some felt ashamed at how they had acted and began to question their certainty. It had, after all, been unusually hot. Domingo said that God’s intent had been clear. Had they not seen the blood on Danilo’s hands? Had they not all witnessed how God had taken him on the cross? Domingo said that doubters should attend confession before they lose sight of the Lord. Miguel knew that Domingo had not been to confession since Maundy Thursday.