The
Popular Holy Week
When
attending the sick in hospital emergency rooms, I have often been
rather surprised at the cool way in which the staff, nurses and doctors,
deal with what appear to me to be very serious cases. Someone appears
to be bleeding to death and the patient or a bewildered relative is
being asked "What is your mother's maiden name?"
Well,
anyhow, one Good Friday after the Solemn Liturgy the people were venerating
the Santo Entierro in the Church, they were coming up to kiss the
image and take away the bit of cotton with which it was wiped. During
my evening meal a frenzied delegation of the Catholic Women's League
arrived from the sacristy. "What will we do Father, we are running
short of cotton. From the expression on their faces the eruption of
Mt. Pinatubo would be a minor calamity compared to that of running
out of cotton on this occasion. "Where," I asked myself,
"Could I get cotton on Good Friday evening when all the drug
stores were closed?"
Yes,
I knew where I could try - the emergency room of the hospital! I got
on my motorbike and rather shyly presented my problem to the staff
on duty. Well, it was as if the gun was fired to start a race in the
Olympics Games. The whole hospital was galvanized into action, intercoms
were buzzing from one department to another, and in a matter of seconds
I was loaded with the precious commodity.
Today,
Palm Sunday, we begin holy week. The church offers us the great liturgies
of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil. The
Easter Vigil in which the story of God's love is told from the Creation
to the Resurrection, and incorporating our own insertion into these
mysteries through baptism is supposed to be the climax of all the
year's celebrations. But the official liturgies seem to leave the
people rather cold. It is the procession of the palms which are waved
excitedly as they are blessed and then taken home, often without waiting
for the Mass, that attracts the people. On Good Friday it is the Syete
Palabras (seven last words), the Penetencia and the Santo Entierro
(image of the dead christ) that seem meaningful for people. The great
Easter Vigil - the greatest liturgy of the year - is sparsely attended
but people will rise at 4:OO a.m. on Easter Sunday morning to witness
the Encuentro or Salubong (the meeting of Jesus and his mother) of
Easter morning. In this ceremony two separate processions, one carrying
the statue of the risen Christ, the other of the Blessed Mother totally
veiled in black start out from the Church. When they meet, a small
girl dressed as an angel is let down from the roof, sings the Regina
Coeli and slowly removes the black veil of the Blessed Mother.
Prayer
is relating with reality, the reality of here and now events and people;
and the reality of an OTHER, a creator, a transcendent one beyond.
It is clear that the ordinary people have a great sense of the presence
of that OTHER which the official liturgy - with its many words - is
not capable of putting them in touch with. People experience much
suffering in their lives. Pre-Christian animistic beliefs would have
many believe that these are punishment for past sins. This theology
would say that the dead Christ has paid the price and placated the
Father. We identify with his suffering and believe that it will give
us deliverance. This is a kind of resurrection.
But
it is a fatalistic resurrection - a resurrection that leads to coping
rather than transcending.
If
we can sit with the mysteries of Holy Week and let them talk to us
in our silence we will find that resurrection means more than coping;
it means acceptance and then letting go and starting off again full
of new life. It brings us to a real living of life rather than just
coping with life's problems. It will help us to maintain what is good
and beautiful in the present celebration of Holy Week but also open
us up to a deeper understanding and joy in the new life in this life
and in the next that is the real message of the PASCHAL MYSTERY.
