Thursday, March 20, 2008 Wenceslao: Two-day pause By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
WE will again go on a two-day respite, part of the Holy Week ritual many of us in media have, thankfully practiced for decades now. In my annual work calendar, the listed vacations are few: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Dec. 24 and 25 and New Year. Other holidays don’t matter---we work, except if these fall on days off, which is once per week.
The past days have been busy for us in the newsroom, with Manny Pacquiao’s bout last Sunday that had people debating about the Pinoy boxer’s one-point win to annex the World Boxing Council super featherweight crown. Meanwhile, the visit of Rodolfo Lozada Jr. to Cebu Monday sparked a controversy with his and his fans’ reckless claims.
So this two-day respite should be welcome, if only for us to be given a chance to reclaim our sanity and peace of mind. I will, for once, be focused on other things, like viewing on DVD “The Passion of Christ” and joining, together with my wife and kids, the procession in Pardo on Good Friday, like what the family always does every year.
I have actually noticed weeks ago preparations of some parishes for this annual ritual. At the sports facility in Minglanilla, the structure which is the focus of the town’s Kabanhawan Festival is already standing. Commuters, if they are observant enough, may also have noticed the rising of the stage near the Pardo church, site of the annual Sugat.
But what really draws me into Holy Week mode are those Siete Palabras spots on radio that use parts of the “Ten Commandments” soundtrack as background music. I don’t know, but I think my wife will once again be showing that movie at any time in our two-day break. Nothing like a classic to remind us of things other than the mundane.
I come from a big family with nine children. We therefore were not afforded the luxury of spending the Holy Week away from Sitio Kawayan in Barangay Sambag 2 where I grew up. But there’s one practice that I am passing on to my own family, and this is using the occasion, especially Good Friday, to strengthen our bond by being together.
Days pass and the world spins but there are things that we should try to keep especially in this period when change has become rapid. Our Holy Week ritual is one.
Indeed, life is not only about the Pacquiaos and Lozadas of this world, or about President Arroyo and of the need to force her resignation. Often, we are lost in navigating crowded streets we forget to look at the sky and pause to admire eternity.
