And now what?

What do you take away or take home from your “Holy Week”?

Was there anything “Holy” about your “Holy Week”?

After more than five decades of going through the Holy Week, it is a curious thing to note how Filipinos have gone from “commemorating” to “celebrating” Holy Week. When I say “celebrating” I mean “Party”, “gimmick”, and good time.

If we don’t watch it, “Holy Week” might end up being categorized as a fun holiday rather than Holy days. Did you notice that this year a lot of people started sending out SMS messages and emails in the same manner that they send out Yuletide Season’s greetings?

For the record, I was not “Holy” during Holy Week. Between our trip to Shanghai (courtesy of FOTON) and hosting the 9th Beltran Easter egg hunt in Lipa, I barely had anytime to be penitent. But I did take down a few mental notes that might be worth thinking about.

Someone reminded me of an old superstition that Black Saturday is believed to be an auspicious time to seek out amulets, black magic and a host of other special powers or special effects.

Legend has it that if you wait at midnight of Good Friday and Black Saturday under the heart of a Banana tree, you might be able to catch a black pebble or an amulet. Personally all you’ll probably catch a bat poop. 

In hindsight though, a lot of people actually treat the Holy Week as an opportunity to gain pardon, favor or power from good or evil.

The funny thing about it all is that once Easter Sunday comes, all the seriousness of the Holy Week melts away. No one I know has ever talked about the 40 days that Christ spent between his Resurrection and Ascension and its significance to seekers like you and I.

If you’re still hoping to have a special spiritual experience, the next 40 days may do you more good than the past few days of the Holy week.

We traditionally celebrate Easter Sunday like some victory party of good versus evil. It’s the day we hold a feast for our champion and the day when we set aside our mourning and shift into rejoicing.

But when you think about it, Easter Sunday belongs to Christ. He fought the battle, he suffered and died and then he came back literally untouchable and the true heavyweight champion of the universe.

The rest of the crowd was hiding, weeping, confused and scared.

According to biblical accounts, after dying on the cross, Jesus came back to life, played peek-a-boo with his followers, came back with an appetite, and hung out with several hundred believers for 40 days. I guess this is the basis why the official or traditional mourning period among Catholic Filipinos lasts for 40 days.

As you sit there pondering on the significance of Christ and the Holy Week, try to consider the fact that after 3 years of being followers, it was only after Easter that the followers of Christ or Christians received their “commission” and their gifts.

Whatever they learned in their 3- year boot camp ended in a flood of tears, guilt and fear after they lost their master at the cross. In essence it was nothing more than and introductory course. 3 years disappeared in 3 days.

But after Easter, the Apostles and believers went through a 40-day training camp with the Christ. It’s interesting to note that every significant event in the Bible involved 40 days; The flood that launched Noah’s Ark, Moses commissioning on Mount Sinai, The temptation of Christ, and the period between the resurrection and the ascension of Christ.

What they went through was not some private tutoring or training behind closed doors. They got market place exposure, they were bolder and they were better.

So as we all go back to the market place, it may do as well to read up on the accounts of the forty days AFTER Easter because it did not end at the Resurrection, it was just the beginning.

* * *

Kudos DPWH NCR

To start the week on a positive note, allow me to extend the praise of many commuters who pass through Ortigas Avenue / Meralco avenue intersection towards C-5.

Several readers sent SMS messages thanking the repair work that was done by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) on that area which we mentioned in a previous column.

It seems that the DPWH crew took advantage of the Holy Week and worked through Good Friday to repair the road, which had “melted” or got squashed by overweight trucks and container vans.

I wish someone had the chance or the foresight to record a video of what happens to our national roads due overloaded container vans and trucks. Just by showing the video on YouTube, I am sure that the DPWH would get so much public support for their campaign to restrict load limits on highways.