General Absolution and First Wednesdays in Baclaran Church

First Wednesdays have a special place in the hearts of the Redemptorist community and devotees to the Our Mother of Perpetual Help, leading to many more thousand devotees visiting the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help than on ordinary Wednesdays.

First Wednesdays are also the time when Redemptorists perform General Absolution. Adding several hours to the regular schedule of confession to accommodate more confessors have not solved the problem of hearing all confessions by about 7:30 PM, so the priests’ solution is to administer the General Absolution which starts after the 7:00 PM Novena, the last novena at the shrine.

Devotees prepare for the General Absolution. A Redemptorist presides over the ceremony. The Redemptorist community in Baclaran is quite large and multiracial.

Devotees pray on the chancel and venerate the tabernacle. It is a custom among devotees to tap the tabernacle and pray for their petitions to Our Lord and God and for Our Mother of Perpetual Help’s intercession for their petitions.

Devotees queue up for their turn to venerate the tabernacle. Patience is a necessary virtue on a First Wednesday because of the long queues. Besides, devotees simply do not make the sign of the cross and pass by the tabernacle. They pray.

On the left are devotees praying and approaching the altar on their knees, a sign of fervent devotion.

-Prospero Pulma Jr.-