When we arrived there were already many people inside. Most of the Confirmation candidates were around 12 years old. The girls were on the right side while the boys were on the left.
There was some confusion among the three priests when they couldn't find the missal in Tagalog. Some prayer books were brought out and looked at and they just couldn't find it. The bishop finally announced that the first part of the mass will be said in English. I suppose they had the second part in Tagalog available.
This brief commotion at the altar somehow made me think. After celebrating hundreds of masses already, isn't this something that they should've/could've memorized already? I mean they're not young (one's a bishop) so I supposed they've done this many times. I remember when I was very young, my siblings and I managed to memorize the whole Rosary, including the lengthy Litany. And all of this, by rote!
It's obvious that not all the Confirmation candidates were young ones. The one next to Sandra was old enough to get married and that's why she's here - Confirmation is a prerequisite to getting married in the church (Matrimony).
Finally the blessing from Bishop Mercado. There were a couple of priests confirming. The bishop (Fr. Mercado) had to empower Fr. Iliari so he too could administer confirmation. The guy being confirmed by Fr. Iliari in the pic below is probably a would-be groom.
Here are this year's Confirmation "graduates".
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