The Lord’s way

No joke today. It’s the Holy Week. The first Holy Week was full of pain, suffering, betrayal, and abandonment. But there is a story to be told—the story about a God who loved us so much that He sent His only Son to suffer and die for us and for our salvation.

In today’s Gospel (Mt. 27, 11-54), we hear the narration of the Lord’s Passion. The last hours of Jesus’ life on earth were painful and ugly, but so full of love for you and me. Whatever prayer, penance, or good works we do this week, let’s do them out of personal gratitude for God’s tremendous love for each one of us.

“Let it go.” Holy Week is that special time of the year when we let go, and let God. Let us look into our hearts and identify the “baggage” that we should just let go of—whether hatred, anger, an unforgiving attitude, pride, selfishness, and bad habits that imprison and cripple us. Make that good confession. Take the road of peace and reconciliation.

Please remember that the Holy Week is not so much about feeling good about ourselves as doing good for others. Piety should lead us to generosity. Let us take the road of sharing our time, talents and treasures, and let us do so with joy, humility and sincerity.

“If your spirituality has not changed your character, then it has not done much for your soul.” I don’t remember now who said this, but the lesson is clear: Our “closeness” to God should make us better persons, in all aspects. Amen!

Humility is the key. In this Holy Week, let us all take time to bow our heads and kneel before God and acknowledge Him as our Creator, our God, and our Father. We are not gods, and no one of us should play god or pretend to be God. Let God be God, and let man be man. Man, be not proud.

Humility is also the key to many of our relationship problems. Let us reach out to one another, and take time to mend and renew our relationships. A good place to start is in our homes, in our families, in our circle of friends. And let that small circle become a big, and bigger, circle.

If we were to look at our country from the point of view of the Holy Week, where are we now? Are we on Good Friday still, or Easter Sunday already? Are we still on the Way of the Cross, or on the Road to Emmaus? More than ever, let us be prayerful and vigilant. And let us always be involved. It is our country. It is the only one we’ve got.

How little we are, and how fragile life is! This was my thought after we felt the earthquake in Batangas last April 4 at about nine in the evening. In moments like those when we were so helpless, and we could not even flee, all we could really do was pray. In this Holy Week, let us reflect on our mortality. We all will leave this world someday, sooner or later, and the question we should be asking is: Who am I, and what have I done?

My uncle, Ben Muñoz, older brother of my Mama, turned 100 years old last April 6. Praise God! Who gets to be a hundred? How does one get to be a hundred? My cousin, Dr. Tante Muñoz, made the following computation on 100 years: 36,525 days, 876,600 hours, 52,596,020 minutes. But that’s just the mathematics of it. The other significant part is what we make out of it. Congratulations, Uncle Ben!  And, thank you, for the love and the inspiration.

Think about this: “Age is merely the number of years that this world has been enjoying you.” This is a good thought, and a good challenge for all of us to live well. Otherwise, the saying could be: “Age is merely the number of years that this world has been tolerating you.”

Inviting you to watch our TV Lenten specials to be shown over Channel 2 (4 p.m.-5 p.m.): Holy Thursday, “Fully Alive for Others,” and Good Friday, “New Life.”

A moment with the Lord: Lord, teach us to live worthwhile, meaningful and holy lives. Amen.