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Though I have a far more radical stand about popular religiosity, I respect many Catholic Christians' profound expression of their faith. Some do border on superstition, most rest on miseducation about Christianity. But all, though imperfect and secular, are expressions. And these expressions are diverse and colorful.
I've often wondered why, with the richness of Catholic tradition and sublimity of Catholic liturgy, people still want to search for the very simple message of Jesus by using superfluity. Catholic liturgical celebrations are teeming with allusions to the Christian life and faith. But why aren't we maximizing the catechetical content of these celebrations? Why aren't we drinking from the same cup? Why aren't we breaking bread together?
Prayers, offices, masses...these celebrations are worth nothing to God. But why offer them? For whose sake? Prayer is for our sake, says Don Moen. Amen, says Fr. Ben Villote. The Gospel announces the good news: God has no need of our incense, fasting and sacrificial offerings. What God thirsts for is love and justice.
What Jesus demands of us is love. Not loving in the popular, romantic and giggly sense, but loving as He has loved us. And what's worse, Jesus emphasized loving not as an invitation, but a command! In the Gospel (John 13:34) of every Maundy Thursday we find Jesus commanding us: Mandatum novum do vobis: ut diligátis invicem, sicut diléxi vos (A new commandment I give you: Love one another, as I have loved you). The "Maundy" in Maundy Thursday comes from the Latin mandatum--a command.
I find it weird why people today find it taunting to be in silence and solitude. Perhaps there exists in silence the haunting mirror where we can look at ourselves face to face. And we don't want to look at our ugliness in the eye. All the time we live in agitation. We constantly seek distractions. We go to malls. We turn on the radio full blast. We hook up to the Net. Who are we escaping from? Why? Who loses when we escape from ourselves?
Passiontide is not merely about remembrance and commemoration. It is a time also to look at the mangled body of that Nazarene and see in His wounds the challenge of loving one another fully. It is also a time for renewing our commitment to justice, to life, to freedom, to responsibility, to community, to compassion, to love. It is a time to remind us that miracles happen when we wash each other's feet. It is a time to remind us that if we want to change the world, we have to go against the grain of the self and of the world. It is a time to remind us of the example of God's Son to turn the other cheek and show passive, nonviolent resistance to inhumanity and injustice.
Perhaps that is the reason that we dread silence and solitude. We cannot afford to leave our comfort zones just to touch another ugly human being's hand. We do not have enough courage to heed the crucified Jesus' command (and challenge) to resist injustice and to love like He does.
And so we muffle His voice calling us to die and rise with Him. And so we drown His pained voice with temporary distractions of glitter, tinsel, music, and glamour. And so we squirm in His affirming embrace and we struggle for escape back to Ayala, and #bi-cebu, and the office, and favorite CDs, and things of the flesh. And we do this not just during the Lenten season, but all throughout the 365 days of the year. What have we found so far? We have searched, but not found. The Zen master would say, "Don't search. Just look."
Holy Week is more than just about giving up. It is about accepting the challenge of being a Christian in this world and turn the world upside down with the love that Jesus offered and died for--the very same love that vindicated His unjust slaughter. Giving up everything is just one of the "crosses" (a giving up) that Jesus invites those daring enough to follow Him to carry. Dying so that others might live is another consequence of following this crazy Man.
Will I be as crazy enough as His Mother? Stabat Mater dolorósa, juxta crucem lacrymósa, dum pendébat Fílius. Crazy enough to withstand the humiliation and the jeers of the world, just to keep my station at the foot of the Cross? Crazy enough to see in the cross, not a symbol of defeat, but of victory? Crazy enough to walk with Him through Galilee, through Calvary, through the tomb, and through the third day?
Kalachuchi Ibabaw sa Karo sa Santo Entierro
Human sa Prusisyon sa Dolorosa
