By Fr. Jerry Orbos
It is Holy Week. This week is the most important week for us Christians. In fact, it is more important than Christmas because if Christ did not suffer, die and rise again (Paschal Mystery) there would have been no salvation. The events of this week, starting with Palm Sunday, the Last Supper, the Way of the Cross, the Crucifixion and Death, the Easter Vigil, and Easter itself have only one clear message: You and I are so much loved personally by God that He gave His only Son to die on the Cross. Think about it: Is there anyone, anyone at all in your life, who is willing to die for you? (Maybe your husband is with you right now. Ask him, if he is willing to die for you!)
As the events of the Holy Week unfold, let us not just be by standers or onlookers. Let us be a part of it all. Walk, don't ride. How high you fly at Easter depend on how you walked the Holy Week. Sorry, there are no short cuts, no free rides in the business of saving one's soul. Here are some suggestions to make Holy Week holy. They are all doable, all valuable.
RELAX: Many of us are over worked and overstressed. We need to rest our bodies and our minds so that we can "fine tune" with ourselves, with other people and with God. Take a break. Take a walk. Commune with nature. See the sunset. Enjoy the moon. Close your cellular phone and your beeper and just allow yourself to be open to the divine. Let go. Let things be. God is in charge. Experience the restoring power of sleep and rest. Smile at the sky. Walk the earth. Whistle a happy tune, or hum a favorite melody. Just thank God you are still alive.
REFLECT: Find time to relax so you can reflect. Don't end up just relaxing. Don't end up tired and empty because you were too busy to relax and thus found no time to slow down and reflect. How long has it been now since you have been in this world? What have you done? You have work, but do you have a life? What is really important for you? What do you still want to do or accomplish? How is your family and your relationships? And how are you relating with your God? Is there an area in your life that needs to be healed? Is there excess luggage in your heart? How would you like to be remembered after you are gone? Questions. Allow yourself to be questioned by life itself.
REPENT: We all fall. We all have mistakes and weaknesses. Accept your limitations. Welcome to humanity! Be humble. Visit the "red light" district in the church and make a good confession. It's the Jubilee Year. Make that general confession. Find time to say sorry to people you may
have hurt or just taken for granted. Make time to visit, to write, to call, to text anyone you need to say sorry to. Is there one bad habit you need to give up? Is there one good habit you need to take up? This is the time for soul-searching. Promise yourself not to go back to the pit of selfishness and sin. If today you hear His voice, harden not your heart.
RENEW: Take time to recharge and just be filled up. Renew your contact with God. Don't just sit in the comforts of your home and watch the services of the Holy Week. Make the sacrifice of participating in church. Show your gratitude to the Lord. Make that Bisita Iglesia, that Via
Crucis, that Easter Vigil and do it all with gratitude and love. Renew ties with your immediate family. Make yourself available and vulnerable to them. Tell them in so many ways that you really care. The world is not just you and your family. Reach out. Give and share. The time to give is always now and it is never too late, never too much. Make a generous donation. Go and visit a hospital, an orphanage, an old folks' home or a sick person. It would be more wonderful if you can do all these with your family. Renew your contact with yourself. Go over old pictures, old letters and files and remember who you were and what you wanted to be. Clean your room and clean your heart of all the could-have-beens and should-have-beens and accept yourself. Embrace yourself for what you are and what you still can be.
RESIGN: That's right, resign. Resign from places and people who do not bring the best in you. Resign from vices and sins that are slowly but surely eating you up. Resign from falsehood and pretenses. Be true. Have substance. No more japorms. No more papogi. Just give your very best and God will take care of the rest. Resign to God's will and God's plan for you and you will have peace-that peace of Easter, that peace, which the world cannot give or take away. Good luck, and all the best as you walk the Holy Week. The road that leads to true life is never easy, but the assurance is there: It is a road that leads to life, and He himself is on the road with you, every step along the way.
A Moment with the Lord
Lord, help me walk another mile, and help me smile another smile. Just one more smile as I walk the Holy Week with You. Amen.
As the events of the Holy Week unfold, let us not just be by standers or onlookers. Let us be a part of it all. Walk, don't ride. How high you fly at Easter depend on how you walked the Holy Week. Sorry, there are no short cuts, no free rides in the business of saving one's soul. Here are some suggestions to make Holy Week holy. They are all doable, all valuable.
RELAX: Many of us are over worked and overstressed. We need to rest our bodies and our minds so that we can "fine tune" with ourselves, with other people and with God. Take a break. Take a walk. Commune with nature. See the sunset. Enjoy the moon. Close your cellular phone and your beeper and just allow yourself to be open to the divine. Let go. Let things be. God is in charge. Experience the restoring power of sleep and rest. Smile at the sky. Walk the earth. Whistle a happy tune, or hum a favorite melody. Just thank God you are still alive.
REFLECT: Find time to relax so you can reflect. Don't end up just relaxing. Don't end up tired and empty because you were too busy to relax and thus found no time to slow down and reflect. How long has it been now since you have been in this world? What have you done? You have work, but do you have a life? What is really important for you? What do you still want to do or accomplish? How is your family and your relationships? And how are you relating with your God? Is there an area in your life that needs to be healed? Is there excess luggage in your heart? How would you like to be remembered after you are gone? Questions. Allow yourself to be questioned by life itself.
REPENT: We all fall. We all have mistakes and weaknesses. Accept your limitations. Welcome to humanity! Be humble. Visit the "red light" district in the church and make a good confession. It's the Jubilee Year. Make that general confession. Find time to say sorry to people you may
have hurt or just taken for granted. Make time to visit, to write, to call, to text anyone you need to say sorry to. Is there one bad habit you need to give up? Is there one good habit you need to take up? This is the time for soul-searching. Promise yourself not to go back to the pit of selfishness and sin. If today you hear His voice, harden not your heart.
RENEW: Take time to recharge and just be filled up. Renew your contact with God. Don't just sit in the comforts of your home and watch the services of the Holy Week. Make the sacrifice of participating in church. Show your gratitude to the Lord. Make that Bisita Iglesia, that Via
Crucis, that Easter Vigil and do it all with gratitude and love. Renew ties with your immediate family. Make yourself available and vulnerable to them. Tell them in so many ways that you really care. The world is not just you and your family. Reach out. Give and share. The time to give is always now and it is never too late, never too much. Make a generous donation. Go and visit a hospital, an orphanage, an old folks' home or a sick person. It would be more wonderful if you can do all these with your family. Renew your contact with yourself. Go over old pictures, old letters and files and remember who you were and what you wanted to be. Clean your room and clean your heart of all the could-have-beens and should-have-beens and accept yourself. Embrace yourself for what you are and what you still can be.
RESIGN: That's right, resign. Resign from places and people who do not bring the best in you. Resign from vices and sins that are slowly but surely eating you up. Resign from falsehood and pretenses. Be true. Have substance. No more japorms. No more papogi. Just give your very best and God will take care of the rest. Resign to God's will and God's plan for you and you will have peace-that peace of Easter, that peace, which the world cannot give or take away. Good luck, and all the best as you walk the Holy Week. The road that leads to true life is never easy, but the assurance is there: It is a road that leads to life, and He himself is on the road with you, every step along the way.
A Moment with the Lord
Lord, help me walk another mile, and help me smile another smile. Just one more smile as I walk the Holy Week with You. Amen.
