A Very Good Friday.
The mass, aired by ABS-CBN, was unique because it was filled with special testimonies and musical numbers by people from different walks of life. Today is a Good Friday, a particular day in the holy week—the faithful day when Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Christians, true to its traditions and culture, were doing certain activities today like attending sober street processions, the ‘Way of the Cross’, a Passion play which is known as the ‘Senakulo’ and of course the remembrance of Jesus’ ‘Seven last words’. The testimonies were about those who have experienced the healing power of the Lord. A segment of the mass venerated on Christ’s last seven words on the cross. One portion caught my attention and it was about Jesus’ 4th words: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Even my brother and I cannot understand why Jesus asked this. I told him perhaps it was not a sin to ask God for our misfortunes as long as we don’t blame him. And this was supported by a priest’s sincere sharing of wisdom.
I am not ashamed to say that tears ran down my cheeks as I listen to the priest's story. The said priest was asked by some people during a retreat about certain calamities in the Philippines which ended the lives of thousands of people. “Why has God forsaken them?” cried a man in a group. Soon enough, everyone in the group started raising similar questions. “I honestly do not have an idea. Don’t blame me,” the priest jokingly commented on the group’s nosy and blameful attitude.Nevertheless, the priest shared what he had to say about the matter. “We are not the only ones to ask this. Even Christ has asked this to God.” Possibly, it is at first difficult for us to accept painful events in our lives especially if we are struggling to be really good. If we lost all we had, can we still love Jesus? This question is perhaps difficult to answer that is why the priest said that we are called to pray for courage in loving God. Why courage? Because it is indeed a courageous act to love someone when we feel that love has abandoned our hearts. The priest also said that God has never forsaken anyone. He has only wished for the best even if it meant for the end of us or our loved ones. End in this case is physical for we all know that we can truly begin a new life after we die once we are reunited with Christ’s love.
Things happen for a reason even if we never know or discover them. In the end, love and sacrifice were justified as Jesus’ truly accepted his fate. This is supported with Jesus’ final utterance on the cross. “Into your hands I commit my spirit,” surrendered Christ to his Father. To surrender our lives to God is not an effortless task. That is why we should all pray for wisdom and strength to carry the cross that we bear. I pray that we will always find inspirations to help us carry the crosses that we ought to put up with in life.
High-school was a difficult time for me. It was a particular time that I felt genuinely alone. I felt I was too different from anyone else and I can feel other’s hatred and indifference towards me running through my veins. But knowing Christ made that notion false and void. This was fully confirmed as the priest recited a poem titled “Yahweh. Here.” I will try to recreate the thought of the poem since I cannot find it in the net:
“When I was lonely, tired and weak…when no one would listen and no one was there to comfort me…Yahweh, you were here.”
He was here when I thought ‘Jesus Nowhere.’ I look back at that time, especially that time I ate alone in the canteen and a guy ridiculed me in front of the others. I felt like crying that moment because no one was there to know I was hurt. But now I know I had someone that time. He truly was there, sitting beside me and listening to the aches, the tears and the screams of the heart.
Now, when I experience a cold and dark day, I just remember three words: Jesus. Now. Here. A blessed holy week to one and all!
No comments:
Post a Comment