100th. :)

In my 100th entry, i wish to share the talk that the priest, Fr. Ted Santiago, gave a while ago.

Tomorrow will be the start of the most Holy week throughout the year. And tomorrow as your knees shake and tremble, listening to the very long gospel, I'd like you to consider two statements: "Hail the King of Jerusalem!" and "Crucify him!". Two contrasting statements spoken by the same crowd for the same person. In the passion of Christ, we see a lot of contrasting ideas, like when the crowd laid down clothing for Jesus to step on, they were the same crowd who stripped His clothing off for crucifixion. The crowd welcomed Him to Jerusalem, but had Him crucified after 5 days.

See how fickleminded they were, how they changed their minds in a matter of 5 days. Most of the time we become like the crowd, being fickleminded and inconsistent. How we've prayed so hard during the finals week, and become lax again with our spiritual life come this summer. How we fail to fulfill our resolutions because of our little excuses, most of the time giving in to our love for comfort.

As you listen to the gospel, there may be times when you feel outraged because of certain characters in the story. But reflecting on how they behaved, we can sometimes see ourselves in them. As mentioned, we are like the crowd because of our inconsistencies. Aside from that, we are like Pilate, having no strong conviction of our own, just letting the crowd sway us to wherever they lead us. We are like Judas, who was blinded by 30 pieces of silver when we give in to our own temptations, be it big or little. We are like Peter when we deny His existence and resolve to our own capacity. We are like the rest of the apostles when we lose faith in Him, mostly when we give in to our fears and imaginations. We are like the Pharisees when we claim we follow His way, but fail to see Him in other people, mostly in the people we dislike, or the people who annoy us. If we examine our daily behavior, one way or another, we become like one of them. and yet we continue to be such, thinking we are apart from how they acted, thinking we know better. And while we do know better because presented before us is the established Truth, they, in the middle of confusion because of certain paradigm shifts they had to do, we see ourselves acting no different from how they acted.

From the same story, we could find other characters from whom we find inspiration. The people who we could hopefully emulate not just for the Holy Week, but for the whole of our life. We draw inspiration from Simeon of Cyrene, as we unite our own sacrifices with the Holy Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. From Mary Magdalene, as we repent from our own sinfulness. From one of the thief, who believed and trusted. From our Lady, who was not around during the great miracles of Christ, except the one at the wedding feast in cana, but was with Jesus all throughout His suffering and humiliation. Mary who, after the apostles left and hid, stayed with Christ at the foot of the Cross.

He is the King who was crowned with thorns, and had the crucifix as His throne. All these He accepted with such great humility. And yet we, receiving so little suffering compared to His, refuse them as if we were of royalties to be served.

But more than just looking back at the account of our Lord's passion and death, is for us to reflect on our own relationship with Him. How much have we included Him in our lives? How much have we reflected His existence to other people? and more importantly, how much have we loved in His name?

We may reflect and reflect for all we want. Refuse all the comfort in the world during this Holy week as much as we want to, but all these can be outdone by that one act of love we share to people --- an act of love that holds no other meaning but pure Love.