A time to meditate

Sometimes I wonder how many people still care to remember that the purpose of Holy Week is to reenact, relive and participate in the passion of Jesus Christ. In Catholic churches, it is a time to commemorate and enact the suffering and death of Jesus through various observances and services of worship.

Theologians rightly observe that the joyful celebration of Easter will have no significance unless it is preceded by focusing on the suffering, humiliation and death of Jesus Christ.

Holy Week does not end on Good Friday. And we must understand the importance of Holy Saturday. Unfortunately, many Christians believe that the most important days are Good Friday and Easter Sunday, with Saturday serving only as the middle or the connecting day. 

Holy Saturday is the time of transformation. It is the day for reflection and sorrow, the long day while awaiting the joyous day of Resurrection.

It is a good time to remember all those relatives and friends who have passed away and are awaiting the day of the Resurrection for all of us. 

Holy Week is supposed to be for spiritual meditations and reflections. The Bible and other religious books are normally used as tools for these exercises. However, there are other books which I also recommend. Although these cannot be strictly classified as spiritual, these books can provide a basis for meditations which can lead to a strengthening of personal faith. 

A Concise History of the Catholic Church by Thomas Bokenkotter published by Image Books, New York, 1990. This was first published in 1979 and updated in 1990. I still consider this as the most comprehensive and more readable history of the Catholic Church. According to the author, his intention was to provide the ordinary Catholic and anyone interested in a relatively brief but comprehensive account of the history of the Catholic Church.

The author said: “I especially hope it would help Catholics with all the changes going on in the Church by showing them how much change had occurred in the past.” Although written more than four decades ago, these words show how relevant the book continues to be today.

The book is divided into five parts, corresponding to the major historic and epochal developments in the Church.

Part I is entitled, “The Church Triumphs over Paganism” and covers the period 30 to 680 AD. This covers the era from the life of Jesus Christ to the establishment of papal primacy at Chalcedon.

Part 2, “The Making of Christendom,” covers the period 600 to 1300 AD. 

Part 3 is “The Unmaking of Christendom” and covers the period 1300 to 1650. It starts with the decline of the Papal Monarchy and ends with the chapter, “The Catholic Church Recovers its Spiritual Elan.”

Part 4 is “The Church in a State of Siege” and covers the period 1650 to 1891. 

Part 5 is “The State of Siege is Slowly Lifted” and covers the period 1891 to 1990.  The first chapter is on social Catholicism and Christian democracy and the last chapter is entitled, “The Bark of Peter in Stormy Seas.”

Woman Prayers: Prayers by Women Throughout History and Around the World, compiled by Mary Ford-Gabowsky, published by Harper Collins, 2003. 

This is an outstandingly beautiful collection of 202 prayers and prayerful poems written by women writers and sages from around the world and throughout history. Although the sources are varied, ranging from Celtic blessings, Native American petitions, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Hindu and Chinese prayers. All provide spiritual inspiration for everyone, regardless of religion.  According to the editor, “… Praying is a preparation for a longer spiritual practice such as silent meditation.”

This timely prayer comes from the book:

May the blessing of the rain be on you,

the soft sweet rain.

May it fall on your spirit

So that small flowers may spring up

And shed their sweetness in the air.

May the blessings of the great rains be on you

To beat upon your spirit and wash it clean:

and leave there many a shining pool

where the blue of heaven shines

and sometimes a star.

May the blessing of earth be on you,

The great round earth;

May you ever have a kindly greeting for people

As you’re going along the road.

And now may the Lord bless you,

And bless you kindly

Amen.

 March 21 is International Day of Forests. It was encouraging to hear that the ”Forests for a Sustainable Future: Educating Children” program was recently launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization, Department of Education and Department of Environment and Natural Resources to teach primary school children about the value and benefits of forests to people and the earth. The lessons for Grades 4-6 were piloted at the Lagro Elementary School in Quezon City. It is never too early to promote the love and consciousness of the forest, the environment and ecology in the youth.

The program was first launched in Tanzania, and now, the Philippines, but it is designed  to be easily adaptable for use in any country.