The procession of the image of the Black Nazarene, or the Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno, which is done every ninth of January, the Feast Day of the  Black Nazarene, is one of the biggest religious spectacles in the country.

This year, the procession took  the longest time in its history, 22 hours in all—beginning from after the 7 a.m. Mass at the Luneta Grandstand presided by Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, and ending at 6  a.m. in Quiapo Church on January 10, the following day! That must be the longest procession in the whole history of the Philippines.

I was one of the speakers during the vigil at the Luneta Grandstand. I spoke at 1;00 a.m., Monday, and there were thousands participating in the vigil. An estimated eight million joined in the procession and festivities.

All the Masses in Quiapo Church were  participated in by crowds which overflowed into the streets and in Plaza Miranda. That despite threats of terrorist bombings announced by no less than President Aquino himself!

It struck me what great Spirit-power there was in those massive crowds of devotees. There was true power in those masses of people  who  gathered to express their simple faith and devotion to the Black Nazarene.

That was not only people power. That was Spirit power capable of bringing about true personal and social transformation if properly harnessed by the leaders of the Church. Imagine what change in society there would be if only those masses of people recognized their own dignity as children of God through the power of the Spirit, and then respected their fellow Filipinos as also children of God by the power of that same Spirit!

We would truly become a renewed nation, because those people came from different parts of the Philippines, and they were so numerous.

But for that to happen a sustained and massive work of religious education must be carried out by the Church. For the truth is, as Fr. Fernando Carpio, one of the priests in Quiapo told me, there are two kinds of devotees.

There are the devotees to the image of the Black Nazarene. The focus of their devotion is the image of the Nazarene. They come to join the procession, to pull at the ropes for a  period of time, to touch the image of the Nazarene and to have their towels or handkerchiefs wiped  at the statue. They make great sacrifices and endure much suffering in patience to be able to do this. But when they have done this, they are done.

Then there are the devotees of Jesus, who is represented by the image of the Black Nazarene. The focus of their devotion is the person of Jesus. Their devotion  is not for a day, but 365/366 days in the year. They follow not the image of the Black Nazarene but Jesus himself. They do not follow only the carriage carrying the statue, but they  follow the commands and example of Jesus himself. They follow Jesus not during the  procession only but in their entire lives. Their solidarity with Jesus  is not for a day but for every day.

This latter kind of devotees, devotees not to a religious image but to the person of Jesus who  offered Himself to God in sacrifice for the salvation of the world, is what the Church desires and is needed by the  world.

You see these devotees already in those who devoutly assist at Mass or go to confession, or line up quietly to touch the image of the Black Nazarene on Fridays or ordinary days. You see them in people who pray quietly in Quiapo Church, sometimes standing  outside the closed doors of the Basilica in Quiapo. You see them in those who selflessly serve during Mass and Church services, or do catechetical or charity work.

There are many elements in the ways the devotion to the Black Nazarene is carried out which have to be eliminated or corrected.

But the most basic thing to do is to get people to really focus on the person of Jesus and union with him in thought, word, and action—on discipleship that imitates the selfless love of the Lord Jesus.

If this is done, much of the fanaticism and the sordid transactions demeaning the devotion will gradually disappear.