"We have been reading a lot these days in newspapers and watching on TV about a new movie which was released worldwide on the Ash Wednesday, February 25, 2004. The name of the movie is �The Passion of the Christ.� It is directed and produced by none other than the famous Australian actor, Mel Gibson. The script of the film is based on the last 12 hours of Jesus� life. According to write ups, Gibson has spent a lot of money to produce this movie and he can expect big returns in return. The movie is so good in its religious values that viewers literally cry while watching it and there are reports that some people have been miraculously cured and some have even changed their lives. Gibson scheduled the release of the movie at a very appropriate time � the Lent; this rarely happens in the western world. In short, today people have accepted Mel Gibson as one of the best directors and producers and he has also earned a lot of respect from the public.
Talking about the movie, I remembered our late J.P. Souzalin who was fondly known as �uncle Souzalin�. Yes, he too worked very hard and spent a lot of money in order to keep the audience happy. He used his mettle in each one of his tiatrs and presented moral-based shows to the public filled with various scenes. Since most of his tiatrs were based on religion, Christian community got an opportunity to attend value-based tiatrs during the Lenten period. Souzalin was the only person who began his shows in time at 9:00 p.m. and ended at 12:00 a.m. Here are the names of some of his tiatrs he gave us around 40 years ago:
ST. FRANCIS XAVIER: In this tiatr, he depicted St. Francis Xavier�s life which boosted Goans� faith in their patron saint.
ST. ANTHONY: In this tiatr, Souzalin showed the thirteen miracles performed by the saint which at that time looked like live wonders on stage!
THIS IS IT: In this tiatr, Souzalin says nobody can do away with what God has proposed - mine and yours is whatever God has given us; God gave it to you and me as well. So, what is it? He opened his heart and showed it to the public in the form of �THIS IS IT.�
SEVEN SORROWS: Among all of his tiatrs, this one was not only shown the most times but also many people literally cried in their seats while watching it. In this tiatr, Souzalin showed us what we read in the Holy Bible. Each one of the artists, be it Anthony De Sa (Jesus), or Shalini (Our Lady), or Souzalin himself (Judas), etc. enacted his/her role with great precision. The audience would be so engrossed watching the tiatr that hardly anyone spoke a word; each one�s eyes would be fixed on the stage until a scene was over. On their way back home after the show, people would sing praises of Souzalin and hoped more such tiatrs would be staged. It is very difficult for us to find a writer and director of Souzalin�s caliber. He was very famous among tiatr goers; we can never forget his work. Yes, God did give us another writer and director just like him � Prem Kumar. He too had the knack of introducing various new scenes in his tiatrs and this would remind us of our late uncle Souzalin.
So dear readers, I feel proud to tell Goans that whatever our late J.P. Souzalin depicted on the stage around forty years ago, Mel Gibson has now presented it in his film �The Passion of the Christ�. Just as public now weeps on watching the movie and many have even changed their lives, the same had happened in Goa around forty years ago!
What I would like to say here is that not only did we have Mel Gibson type Goans among us then but we still have such talented people among us today. However, we do not have the necessary means and support. If we get the required means and support, I can confidently say that nobody can match us Goans.
So dear readers, the movie �The Passion of the Christ� is not something new to us in Goa; we have seen such plays through the centuries. It is a known fact that Goans devote the Lenten period to God. Men and women in Goa continue to fast during the period. Many of our men refrain from drinking liquor during the Lent. Almost every church in Goa enacts Passion plays on Lenten Sundays. The attendance at these Passion plays continues to be the same. In the past, churches hired special preachers to preach sermons on Lenten Sundays. The sixth and seventh Passion plays were not only very sorrowful but also carried great significance. We have very good, large size religious statues in Anjuna church. We are told, these were procured from Italy in those days. In Anjuna, the sixth Passion play takes place on Tuesday preceding the Maundy Thursday. At this play Jesus carries the cross on his shoulder.
Previously, the procession on the sixth and seventh Passion play days would leave the church compound and head straight towards Lulu�s house from where it would take a left turn; it would then pass by Branganza�s and Aureliano�s houses and land in the field (now houses are built in this field); it then passed by the fence of St. Sebastian�s ward and by Dr. Afonso�s house and exited on the main road; then it took a left turn and headed straight towards the church, passed by the cemetery and entered the church gate on the west side. At the seventh Passion play when men carrying Jesus with cross on his shoulder reached the corner of the cemetery, we would leave the church premises with Mother Mary on our shoulders and meet with Jesus exactly at the junction of three roads by the cemetery. This signified the meeting of Mother Mary with Jesus. We would then blend in the procession and follow Jesus with Mother Mary on our shoulders. Since I am a member (IRMAUM) of Mother Mary�s society, I always lent my shoulder to carry either Jesus or Mother Mary. In those days, most people carried rosaries in their hands and kept on saying rosaries and murmuring prayers throughout the procession.
There were always two sermons on the sixth and seventh Passion play days � indoor and outdoor sermons. The procession on the seventh Passion play day or Good Friday took place in the same way as on the sixth Passion play day. Good Friday was always a special day. The atmosphere on that particular day would somehow be filled with Divine grace and power. Similarly, the sun arrogantly thrust its rays on the earth which made us feel as though it too was burning with anger on that day.
On the morning of Good Friday, once the way of the cross was over, around 25 of us would remain in the church in order to make preparations to crucify Jesus Christ � only �IRMAUM� members are allowed to participate in this activity. After bringing out the statue of Jesus from the dark room, we would clean it with wine and then wipe it with cotton. We would then bring the cross down from the wall where it is kept and take it into the church through the main door. Since the cross is solid, it takes at least 20 strong men to take it down from the wall and carry it into the church. The whole process of crucifixtion was carried out in silence and with great respect - nobody was allowed to make noise. Those days, this activity was supervised by Dr. Olencio�s son. Once the crucifixtion was over, we would place a large, black curtain in between left and right altars. All this still happens in our church.
In those days, the priest preached from the pulpit. On Good Friday, just before winding up the sermon, he would point towards the black curtain and loudly say: �HERE IS JESUS CHRIST, HANGING ON THE CROSS BECAUSE OF OUR SINS�. At that, the curtain would be drawn and every one�s eyes would focus on Jesus on the cross and at his mother standing at the foot of the cross. At that particular moment, sun rays would penetrate through stained glasses of windows high up on the wall and fall directly on Jesus� face which would make it look much sadder; then a cloud of darkness would engulf the whole congregation. If one looked around, he would find tears rolling down many peoples� cheeks. Not only that, one could also hear many sob loudly and say �FORGIVE US OH LORD, HAVE MERCY ON US FOR WE HAVE SINNED!� When one heard this, it would send a shriek down the spine and create certain kind of fear in one�s heart. Small children would get frightened, cling on to their mothers and wondered why their mothers cried. Yes, at that very moment the whole congregation would drown in sorrow. Once the outdoor sermon was over, we would take Jesus� body and lay it in the casket attached to the altar and cover it with a special velvet cover embroidered with gold sequin. Then, people would enter the church, kiss the statue of Jesus and quietly leave the church. The population of Anjuna has now increased. Therefore, last year the liturgy on Good Friday was held outdoors. The procession also took place within the church compound.
It would be quite late by the time church service got over on a Good Friday - around 8:00 or 8:30 p.m. On this day, people from far off places like Kaisua, Danddo, Praias, etc., came to church in the morning and returned home only at night. Although there was no electricity supply in Anjuna in the sixties, the moon on that night shone so brightly that we could clearly see even small stones on the road and thus we walked home without any difficulties. Yes, on that day and night the whole atmosphere would become totally different and that was because peoples� faith in those days was very strong. Nowadays, our faith has gone down but we can still revive it. The faith of American people too had gone down but it was revived after the ghastly bombing of New York twin towers on September 11, 2001!
I wished all Goans a holy Lenten period at the beginning of the Lent. I again wish the same and wind up this article. If you come across any mistakes in this article, I beg your pardon in advance. Thank you and may the Lord�s blessings be with us all."
Moi-mogan, Domnic Fernandes Anjuna/Dhahran, KSA
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