‘Tis the season to be holy, to contemplate matters of the spirit and repent for one’s sins in hopes of redemption.
Last Sunday, most churches were packed as Catholics had their palm fronds or palaspas blessed in observance of Palm Sunday.
Churches are all set for the Visita Iglesia this Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. The tradition of visiting seven churches and praying at the Stations of the Cross in each house of worship is a major driver of tourism in this peak travel season.
In many villages, carriages are being readied for the Good Friday procession of images of Christ post-crucifixion, wrapped in a black shroud, followed by other floats bearing the image of a sorrowful Mama Mary. During Holy Week, the large kamuning or orange jasmine shrub at my home gets pruned, courtesy of women who use the leafy branches for adorning their chapel and carrozas.
Holy Week is also fasting time, or at least staying away from meat or reducing normal food intake. These days it is seen as an occasion to jumpstart intermittent fasting, not for religious purposes but to lose weight. (A recent study indicated that intermittent fasting raised the risk of dying from heart and circulatory problems. As I’ve been doing a form of IF for many years now, I must be ripe for a heart attack.)
In Pampanga, despite the Catholic clergy publicly frowning on self-harm in the name of faith, communities are preparing for the annual ritual of self-flagellation and actual crucifixion of penitents called Kristos using iron spikes. The flagellants and Kristos swear the bloodletting is good for both their spiritual and physical well-being.
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One of the best messages for this Lenten season was given in a Facebook post earlier this month by Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas.
“Make someone happy this Holy Week. Make someone feel loved. With your smile, show that God is love,” Villegas posted.
His message is not as simple as “give love on Christmas Day.”
“Fasting is good, but without ‘malasakit’ or concern for others, it is nothing. Prayer is good, but without remembering others and laying aside personal comfort, it is just an ego trip. Helping the poor and giving alms is good, but if you do it for show or to get a ‘feel good’ reward later, it is just a noisy bell,” the archbishop posted.
Beyond the Visita Iglesia, Villegas urges the faithful to visit seven patients in a hospital charity ward and bring them food.
Penitents who scourge their backs to a bloody pulp to show repentance for their sins may instead donate their blood to the Philippine Red Cross, Villegas said. He added that flagellants walking barefoot can donate slippers to children who go to school with torn footwear or without shoes.
To those who take flowers from the carrozas to adorn their homes, his advice: “Why don’t you bring flowers instead to a home for abandoned seniors and brighten the faces of lonely grandparents with the love you bring?”
It’s an interesting message from a prelate, considering that apart from the goriness of the real-life crucifixions and flagellation, there are observations that if inflicting self-harm is an act of repentance, how come the same Kristos perform the ritual every year? If they sin over and over, especially if it’s the same offense, how sincere is the contrition?
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In law, recidivists get a heavier penalty. Convicts must show remorse for their offense – an act that requires admission of guilt – before they get a reprieve or pardon.
When it comes to faith, however, we have this perception of a bottomless divine capacity for forgiveness. To err is human, to forgive divine.
In Catholic school, we confessed our sins to a priest at least once a month. The “sins” could include talking back to our parents or fighting with playmates. The priest would give his blessing followed by a prescription for spiritual redemption: one Lord’s Prayer plus three Hail Marys, for example. All would then be forgiven, and we could receive Holy Communion.
Missing Sunday mass (I don’t think they had anticipated Saturday masses at the time) was a mortal sin. Once in grade school, I confessed this to the school’s Caucasian priest. He stormed out of the confessional to loudly scold me in public inside the church. That mortifying experience put me on the path to becoming a lapsed Catholic; I never returned to a confessional again, except to take photos beside picturesque ones in churches.
The idea of “unli” divine forgiveness reminds me of the stories during Jose Rizal’s time, about wealthy Catholics in this country under Spanish colonial rule, who reportedly gave generous donations to the friars for “indulgences” for sins that they kept repeating, plus a reserved seat in Heaven.
This is why Archbishop Villegas’ message resonates. While the Church surely appreciates the show of religious fervor this Holy Week, Archbishop Soc is urging devotees to go beyond ritualistic observances and to live your faith.