HOLY Week is for meditation, prayers, and the Visita Iglesia.
Holy Week also means vacations. With that extra non-working holiday on April 10, since Araw ng Kagitingan falls on April 9 which happens to be Easter Sunday, the more, the merrier for the vacationer.
A staycation at home is the best vacation, though, if you want to stay away from the madding crowds that populate airports, ports, bus terminals, and tourist spots during long holidays. Staying home while writing, reading, spring cleaning, and having lechon on Easter Sunday. Yum!
Or a staycation at a five-star hotel that has a beach, nearby islands, swimming pools, and restos where you can eat and swim, and eat and swim pa more. But you still have to brave the madding crowds if you don’t have a chopper and private plane to bring you directly to your destination.
To each his own even on vacations. Stay home or stay away. Swim or climb. Feast or fast. Island-hopping or bar-hopping. Adventure or muni-muni. Domestic or international. Shop or window-shop.
People with budget constraints may simply stay home. There’s no rule that says Holy Week is more fun if spent outside of one’s hometown.
Your idea of fun may not be other people’s idea of fun. So, let it be. Or let go and let God. Hey, it’s Holy Week after all.
The days we are commemorating this week were Jesus’ worst days. Judas betrayed Him. Peter denied Him. The disciples left Him and ran away. If you’re now complaining about how some people are treating you, look back to that period in Jesus’ life.
The Sorrowful Mysteries may help you reflect on that: agony in the garden, scourging at the pillar, crowning with thorns, carrying of the cross, crucifixion. And His question at the end: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”
What would you have done if you were Jesus?
All these happened more than 2,000 years ago. Which may make us question the authenticity of the details. But there are so many things in this world that we can’t explain even if science has the answers.
During the worst times of your life, surely you were tempted to ask God, Why? But I never had the nerve to ask. Because everything happens for a reason—an oft-repeated line to pave the way to absolute acceptance.
If you’re surviving so far, then, that’s enough. But it’s okay to ask yourself, Why?
Ask why, to discover the sources of your anger, hatred, frustrations, disappointments, jealousy, envy, and sadness, otherwise you’ll end up blaming other people instead of the real origins of your pessimism and negativity. And the blaming will only result in more of the same.
There’s this saying, “Wherever you go, there you are.” Try to observe the statements that have escaped from your mouth lately. If they sound the same but with different characters, perhaps your dislikes have a pattern that’s pointing back at you. The long Easter weekend will hopefully lead to the discovery of your real problem since that’s what this week is also for—reflection, recollection, and realization.
