Holy Week, wholly gone?

Another Holy Week has passed. A week of reflection, or vacation, depending on oneself. I'll admit that I took some time off, but I did give time to reflect on the extreme sacrifice our Lord Jesus Christ did to save mankind. Honestly, every year seems to make the Holy Week more of a grand vacation than reflection, much to the consternation of the church, which struggles more to make itself relevant especially in times of Lent. In the fast-paced age we now live in, the old traditional ways seem to be lost.

Lent, just like Christmas, has been commercialized to the hilt. With business jockeying to offer the best they can in terms of vacation packages, Lent has become an excuse to party, rather than a time for penance. Malls are no longer closed but open to serve. Gone are the days when streets would almost be deserted, punctuated in the afternoons by the processions from the different churches. The internet and cable TV have given everyone, and I do mean everyone with things to do during Holy Week. No more Father Peyton shows though. The old Holy Week may truly be wholly gone.

Some significant events did take place during the Holy Week. Last Wednesday, a ferry in South Korea suddenly listed and eventually capsized, with more than four hundred passengers and crew, most of them high school students. Around fifty are confirmed dead, with hundreds still missing, and the worst presumed. Reports are that this is another case of incompetence by the crew, especially the captain who apparently was not even at the helm when the ship ran into trouble. This is something we really do not need in this world, incompetence.

Then last Saturday, Black Saturday that is, Atty. Gigi Reyes, the former chief of staff of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile whom is also co-accused in the plunder case of Janet Lim Napoles, slipped back into the country after almost eight months self-exile. The government sees the return as a big boost to the ongoing case. Whatever testimony she brings, if she does bring it, is something everyone cannot wait to hear. Sen. Miriam Santiago sees her move as wanting to become a state witness in the case, providing she is the least guilty. That is something for the DOJ to decide on. Her coming back during the Holy Week may have been planned, so as not to make a circus of her return. Whatever she does say on the Senate is another story. Will her statements corroborate that of the whistleblowers' and Ruby Tuason's? Will it be another slam dunk, a home run, a hat trick? Or if you belong to another camp, will you say that it is nothing at all?

I guess it took eight months to convince her to return, and the Holy Week for her to reflect on. She may be the last piece on the puzzle. This country can only hope that this case will be seen through, especially in the light of the coming elections. We all know why this is being drawn out by those accused.

Salvation may lie not on Holy Week, but election day, 2016.