IN a catholic country like the Philippines, the message of hope and peace that come with the Resurrection could not have been more opportune at this time in the face of political strife heightened by the coming midterm elections, a bureaucracy tagged by international agencies as most corrupt, extrajudicial killings left unresolved, and many other social ills that hound the nation.
Saying that the essence of Easter is in re-living its story, CBCP President and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo proclaimed in his Easter message April 8 that the Resurrection of Jesus has brought us Catholics hope for a renewed life.
“The gift of Easter is to see Jesus again, to remember what He taught and did, to live and celebrate our resurrection in Jesus,” the message said.
Lagdameo said the meaning of the Resurrection for us in our time is seen in a life lived in credibility.
“For us in our time to see the Resurrection is to believe in the witness of credible lives through the centuries,” he said in his statement.
Recalling the Holy week celebration which started in the celebration of Palm Sunday and culminated on Good Friday, Lagdameo stated that the real gift of Easter is the re-living of the story of salvation. He explained that the real message of Holy Week is not only that Jesus Christ died for us, but that His rising to life has given us hope for new life.
Lagdameo highlighted the Gospel narrative of the four evangelists which tells of the testimony of women-disciples led by Mary Magdalene, a former sinner; that Jesus has risen from the dead.
“This Gospel detail shows that sinners are also objects of the Resurrection news and can be channels through whom the Good News will spread,” said Lagdameo.
In a separate message, Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales emphasized peace and unity, the fruits of Easter, saying that, “in Christ there should never be any division, nor competition, but one vision of pursuing the love of God and the good of every human in the level ground of helping and inspiring everyone to share in the Kingdom of one Father of all.”
Rosales opined that through his Paschal Mystery, Jesus has “perfected all human experience over difficult means---slavery, poverty, ignorance and oppression;” and made himself “a model and a source of hope in human stories of liberation and salvation.”
“Jesus Christ is the only way and model for humans to save and develop self into a person who is fully human, fit for God’s Kingdom, and able to accept that what is good for him is also good for others,” said Rosales.
As the solemn atmosphere of Holy Week has been replaced by the joyful atmosphere of Easter, election “campaigners are back on trail pursuing their personal projects, [and] those who reflected and prayed come back to work with some hope even over an unwelcoming future,” according to Rosales.
The observance of the Holy Week celebrations brought halt at least temporarily to a political campaign frenzy that has engulfed the nation since the campaign period started last February 3.
Church officials called on the faithful to spend their Holy Week celebrations meaningfully by reflecting on the mystery of the Cross and what it meant to the lives of Christians.
Holy week celebrations in the country have, in some cases, been characterized by commercialism and performing religious practices that others say bordered on fanaticism.
To a growing number of people nowadays, the observance of Holy Week has been reduced to spending time in the beach, or going off a mountain escapade.
The Church also frowns on traditional practices such as flagellations and crucifixions performed by devotees on Good Friday, saying those practices bordered on superstitious beliefs and done only to promote tourism.
“The traditional Holy week celebrations for many [have] become cultural, if not tourist attractions, bereft of spiritual meaning,” according to the San Jose, Mindoro Apostolic Vicar-Emeritus Vicente Manuel, SVD.
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