Holy entertainment

Holy Week was not included in the Church calendar to allow the entire Christendom to go to Baguio and Boracay.

But I’m not going to be judgmental here and condemn those who go frolicking in the beach during Holy Week. I understand that we live in a stressful world and this is the only time of the year that we can relax and have a long break. However, there are still other ways to keep this week holy and unwind at the same time without going away.

Today’s generation is actually lucky because we are more tolerant of youngsters who work around out-of-town activities as their priority during Holy Week.

Of course, in the days before and immediately after the Second World War, there were already people who went up to Baguio to escape the Holy Week heat in Manila. But generally, kids were made to keep still as early as Palm Sunday. On Good Friday, there was absolutely no talking.

Children back then had an easier time keeping holy during this season. Television was their only source of entertainment then and if they wanted to make a Holy Week sacrifice, all they had to give up was watching TV. And most TV networks back then even went off the air from Maundy Thursday to Black Saturday. The few television stations that would go on broadcast on those days would air only starting late afternoon till evening and showed The Song of Bernadette and The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima year after year. There were no video machines then to watch the stack of films on DVD that we have now.

Today, there is so much distraction during Holy Week and therefore a lot to give up as our form of sacrifice. No, you can’t give up texting because you can’t really turn off your phone the entire week. What if there is an emergency? (How do you think I was informed of Rico Yan’s death on Good Friday of 2002?)

Given our modern-day trappings, there are still ways to reflect on the death of Christ during Holy Week even if we choose to remain in the city.

If you choose to stay home, you can relax while watching films with religious themes or any movie about spirituality. Last Palm Sunday, ABS-CBN aired an interesting Italian film that had the English translation Father of Mercy and it was about a priest who was caught in the war in Europe and how he changed lives of everyone around him.

For parents, I encourage you to introduce your children to the Holy Week traditions observed by the Roman Catholic Church. (For other religions, I’m sure their churches have their own Holy Week services.) This way, you don’t only educate and inform them about Philippine culture, you also help them in their spirituality. Also, they don’t get bored at home.

Children who tag along with their parents on Holy Thursday for the Visita Iglesia are introduced to the different architectural designs of churches in the country. They also get to know the different religious icons venerated in this country — like the Black Nazarene in Quiapo (although I’m not sure if they still keep the original in the main altar), the Black Madonna in the Cathedral of Antipolo and Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary in Santo Domingo Church (the original — as far as I know — is in the Central Bank vault).

Actually, just mingling with other churchgoers would teach kids a lot about being Filipino. Of course, kids don’t just ogle at what’s around them in church. They should also be taught how to pray by their parents.

Attending the Good Friday procession is my favorite Holy Week activity. There are a lot of grand processions on this day in other parts of the country (in Agoo, there is an entire Last Supper tableau that is so huge it has to be loaded on a 6 x 6 truck), but I would always remember with fondness our Good Friday processions in our La Vista Parish of Della Strada in Katipunan (although I haven’t attended this in years). The families in our street communally own an image of St. Peter that leads the procession and I always had to help push the carro back then.

A huge sacrifice for a late riser like me is attending the Easter Sunday dawn procession. I was introduced to this Holy Week activity during my childhood and when I grew up, I couldn’t understand why a friend of mine — at age 30 — didn’t know what a salubong was even if he was raised to be a Catholic all his life.

Today’s youngster who has to stay in Manila may find Holy Week to be a bore. But I’m telling you it is not. (Your kids are lucky because some fast-food chains now open even on Good Friday.)

There are spiritual movies to watch at home, inspirational books to read and religious rites to attend right in your own parish. In fact, Holy Week is the best time to combine learning with spirituality and at the same time keeping yourself preoccupied while everyone else is away. It’s really up to you to choose your kind of holy entertainment that would be in keeping with the reflective and contemplative mood of this most sacred of weeks.