It is the second day of the Easter Triduum and I am sensing a trend here. It looks like it's back-to-basics for us. This year's Holy Week exercise seems to be for my son; for him to appreciate more the history behind the traditions. We reflected on the Siete Palabras, completed the Way of the Cross, attended the Liturgy, venerated the cross and the Santo Entierro, and started the Divine Mercy novena together.
I see now the value of going through the motions of the traditional activities and participating in the liturgical rites of the Easter Triduum. In explaining to my son the background of each tradition, I gained a renewed appreciation for and a deepening of my faith ... having immersed myself fully in Jesus' final moments and understanding His heart behind it.
Siete Palabras (7 Last Words)
As for me, while a lot of it are reminders, I found some new learnings as well. Sharing those that struck a cord or struck twice:
"Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."
Is this not the same line we typically use about small children doing something naughty? This reminds me of several incidents with my younger siblings, while we were growing up. I am the eldest. It took 5 years before my sister came along, so I was very much "well-trained" already by that time. I could not understand the double-standards. How come I am always getting reprimanded, while I had to constantly forgive my sister? "Di pa niya naiintindihan ginagawa niya" (She does not understand what she is doing yet) - was a perpetual line used by the adults whenever my sister grabbed my stuff or annoyed me. And it was a line I will continue hearing ... 2 more siblings came after. As I grew older, I understood what the line meant, appreciating that the small kids are still figuring out the implications of their actions. My son, being the eldest grandson, is also grappling with this line. I am happy to see, that he is finally able to understand it now and is teaching the same thing to his younger cousins.
In Jesus' case, though, these are adults. fully aware of what they were doing. And, yet, He used that line. He was the older brother asking the Father's forgiveness for His younger more foolish siblings. Growing up, I had always wanted an older brother Jesus is just the dream older brother anyone could wish for; the kind who always had your back and stood up for you ... even in front of the Father. How cool is that?
(It needs to be mentioned that God also sent me a concrete big brother in the person of my cousin, Myk - being the youngest in his family, he played that role willingly for me; sometimes more protective than my Papa, but I love him to bits).
"Amen, I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise."
It is never too late for a change of heart. "Habang may buhay, may pag-asa". (While there is life, there is hope). As long as there is remorse and repentance is whole-hearted, God will forgive in a heartbeat.
I always wondered why God wanted to wait until the very end, before separating the weeds from the harvest. One reason is that God is more patient with us. He also has great faith in our capacity to be good. Another reason, more relevant for the times, is that sometimes when we pull out the weeds, we pull out the good harvest as well. That is how I see the war against drugs happening now. While ridding the country of "bad elements", it leaves in its wake an entire generation of children who are forced to grow up without parents. Yes, some of them might end up with better lives. But, I believe, for majority of the cases, we are breeding future adults filled with hatred or, at best, scarred for life. I can only hope, that the victims were able to reconcile with God and repent before they were killed. And, I pray, that the blood-stained hands have a good reflection this Holy Week and realize the error in their judgement; that they might see things, finally, from God's perspective.
"Woman, behold thy son." "Behold, thy mother"
My favorite. With these words, Jesus gave us Mary to be our Mother. It will take more than this blog to fully explain the best gift that Jesus ever gave mankind. Growing up, I always turned to her for help or just to unburden. Now that I am a mother (and a single mother, at that), she has also become a mentor. A couple of years ago, I studied her deeper and realized just how kick-ass she is. (Read about it in my 33 Days of Morning Glory blog series).
"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
The priest who reflected on this shared a very apt story from his childhood.
Growing up he had always held his father in high esteem. But, in school one day, a bigger boy bullied him and hurt his arm with a knife. He saw his father and came rushing to him, thinking that he will give the bully an intense beating or, at least, reprimand the boy. But his father gave him a weapon and urged him to do what he wanted. Needless to say, he felt hurt and abandoned. When he got older, he understood the wisdom of what his father did. He needed to fight his own battles; to learn how to deal with life's adversities; to find the courage to stand for his principles and values.
Now that I am a mother, I understand God's wisdom even more. These trials build character and help us become even just a little bit more Christ-like. I know, that while I struggle to overcome my trials, He is there watching over me --- just as I (anxiously and calling upon all the self-control I can muster) watch in the sidelines as my son faced and dealt with a bully at the playground. Sometimes it is easy to whine and complain. But, I know in my heart, that, during those times, He is watching me ever more closely --- believing in my capacity to overcome, while remaining true to my core values. For there is nothing He sends our way, that He has not adequately equipped us with grace.
"I thirst"
This, for me, has always been the most painful line he uttered. I cannot possibly do justice to the very comprehensive reflection of the priest, but I will try.
He started off by explaining the basic life-sustaining and healing properties of water. We die faster from lack of water than from lack of food.
Then, the priest talked about the scripture passage when Jesus asked for water from a Samaritan woman.
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Jesus is the Living Water and, yet, on the cross He said, "I thirst". He did not thirst for actual water, but for mankind's love. Imagine, this is the moment when He felt abandoned by the Father and the very ones He is offering His life for do not have any clue, that the Man they nailed to the cross just saved them. We are an ungrateful lot. And more than 2000 years later we still haven't learned anything. We still "do not know what we [they] are doing". And everyday, since that first Good Friday, He has been thirsting for our love."It is consummated" ("It is finished")
This is the verse about which I learned something new. The Hebrew translation actually means "to finish, fulfill". (In the Hebrew context, it could also mean: "Paid in Full"). This meant, that everything that had been prophesied about the Messiah had already been fulfilled. All the requirements of the sacrifice had been complied with (excuse the finance stewardship lingo). It is not an exhausted whimpering of a dying man. It is a deliberate proclamation of "Mission accomplished!".
A more detailed (short) discussion on this is found here: What Did Jesus Mean By "It is Fnished?"
"Father, into Thy hands I commend my Spirit"
This was a proclamation of complete and utter surrender to the Father. Although Jesus uttered this at the point of his death, this is a very powerful final teaching. When we are at our most difficult, darkest moments, let us entrust ourselves - not just our lives, but especially our spirit (our very essence) - to the Father.
The person who shared for this verse lived through the very difficult tragedy of her father's (at age 76) brutal murder. Being very close to her father, the incident broke her in her deepest parts. It broke her spirit. She shared about the pain of loss and the even greater pain of the forgiveness process; a process that liberated her in the end. She realized then how, more than the loss, keeping the grudge was killing her spirit.
She ended her sharing with this: "I cannot control the wind, only my sail".
It is amazing how I grew up with these words and yet the meaning constantly changes. There is much more context now, that enriches the meaning and broadens the relevance of these simple lines. Jesus never wasted a single moment of His short life. Until the very end, He was still able to insert these final words rich with embedded lessons and instructions to live by. (In Filipino I would call this "Huling Tagubilin ni Hesus"). Such a rockstar, don't you think?
