Oil on canvas, 4 feet x 3 feet

In this HOCUS painting, one sees the suffering Christ on His way to Cavalry painted in a Philippine setting. On the center of the painting, a Filipina, who had begun reading the Pasyon since childhood, and continued to read it through adolescence, adulthood, old age, up to the last of her days. Also, at the center is a Jesuit who reminds the viewer that the tagalog Pasyon was printed by the religious order. Both his hands bear Christ’s stigmata; he is holding the plant called the “crown of thorns.”

In the upper portion of the HOCUS painting is a gruesome scene depicting the crucifixion of Christ showing Roman soldiers who look like the Moriones of Marinduque. There is a black rainbow arching over the crucifixion, portending the outbreak of religious conflicts after the death of the Only Begotten Son of God.

The Tagalog words around the painting are those of Aquino de Belen, the printer of the Jesuits. There are Castillian words as well, like tinieblas referring to the period of darkness, the anticipating sign for the death of Christ; or it may also refer to the dichotomy of the Lenten season, a time of the darkness of sin and the light of salvation. From twelve noon to three in the afternoon, the priest intones the Seven Last Words of Christ. At the exact hour of 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the Faithful make noises mimicking the sounds of the lightning storm that took place when Christ was dying on the cross. Thus, wooden clogs are hammered on the ancient adobe stone walls of the church; there is wailing and screaming and moaning, all in protest of the death of Christ. At exactly three o’clock in the afternoon everything stops. Silence reigns. The Son of God is dead.