Good Friday

A day of prayer and abstinence – I guess I’ve adhered at least to the second part of it, I think I just don’t possess the temperament to kneel for a period of time reading down the my list of problems, usually I’ll just tell God that…Well God, you are God, you know me true and through, so just please make all my problems disappear!

From experience, such a recipe usually bears mixed results, from my point of view at least. I do not think God actually measures the length of your prayerx to the propensity of Hisher graces. I mean I know of people who really belief in that sort of thing, I mean what else can account for the multitudes of people who flock to the front peels of Novena Church every Saturday and cement their knee caps upon the kneelers for hours. But if they belief what they’re doing makes a difference, good for them, but I’m certain that knee hurts really bad after a while.

As to the abstinence part, I did observe it. However, I think I was really enjoying myself gulping down frostered flakes with whole milk. So, even though I observed the necessities of not consuming meat, which is suppose to make your life a living hell, I actually found no trouble munching through a whole box of cereal. So I guess I did adhere to the letter of the law, but not the spirit of the law – which I assume is to starve yourself silly and that renunciation of all that pleasure is suppose to knock some sense into you and enable you to better reflect as to whether you’ve been naughty or nice.

For me, as I stood at the back of the church for the 3pm service (It was so darn pack! I actually had to squeeze myself into the other service being held at basement) I told myself that I think I’ve done pretty well, at least well enough not to be lock into eternal damnation. I hope so for my own sake.

Standing at the back was quite fun, I mean you get to see everything. The service of course, the choir girls, a few familiar faces here and there, and how the collective behavior of people who were just individuals before they stepped into church. When one kneeled, everyone kneeled. Someone utters a response, the crowd chases after his or her utterance. I guess the atmosphere where everyone is accepted as one in one community without the prejudices and biases does give us all a reason to feel good about ourselves. And some even get overboard and seek to superimpose upon you. I was lectured as to the proper technics of venerating the cross, why? Because I did not have a rose in hand and I think in Filippino culture, putting a rose by the cross is part of the whole ritual. So I just nodded in agreement as an old Filipino lady gave me her rose out of the dozens she had and told me to kneel and touch the foot of the cross and kiss it. I did just that because as she walked away, she was looking behind her back ensuring that I was following her instructions. I’m sure she just didn’t want me to burn in hell for not following the dictates of venerating the cross – a tradition probably crafted from the days of old and edited and exaggerated every generation since. But she gave me a Rose, and I knew she just meant well.

So tomorrow is Easter and the little kids would be imagining queer little bunnies hopping down their lawn. Too bad, it’ll just be gorging over Easter eggs for them, and a long weekend for me. As I said earlier, tomorrow is a time for feasting and merry making, so like how I fastered on frosted flakes with milk ceaselessly, I shall have a real Merry Easter! And I hope that applies to all of you as well. Here’s to a happy and joyful Easter! Stay Safe, but keep the faith!