CLOSE friends and family will find it odd if I decide to heed Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma’s call to reflect on the life of Jesus Christ this Holy Week.
No doubt about that.
Already I can imagine them squinting, the space between their eyes furrowing, their brows, well, browsing, I guess.
“The life of Christ brings in a new hope. The death and resurrection of Christ bring a renewed energy and a promise that He would be with us for all time. And if we are with Him, we will be with Him in His resurrection despite of all that had happened. We know that His love, His blessings will be with us until the victory of his resurrection,” the prelate told churchgoers during his Palm Sunday mass at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.
The message has a nice ring to it. Really. Even though I’m not religious, it lightens my heart, which even I find weird. In a good way, that is.
But I have never been big on attending mass. Not even when I was a kid. Not even when I went to Catholic school. My immediate family and I were Catholics in name only.
Mind you, both my paternal and maternal grandmothers were religious. In fact, my father’s younger brother would have become a priest if he hadn’t died suddenly.
But that was our upbringing. And I don’t have any regrets. Anyway, we always celebrated and continue to celebrate “important” religious occasions like, say, Christmas.
That counts, right?
But I’ve always believed my relationship with God is personal.
When we were young, my mother taught us a prayer that we said before going to sleep. I don’t remember it now. But I remember saying it quietly. Like it was just me and Him. Very intimate.
That’s how my relationship with God developed. Over the years, the prayer became a conversation. I’d find myself talking to Him out of the blue if I got too stressed out. Call it a habit or maybe an instinct. But He’s my go-to guy when I have a problem.
And since I don’t want Him to think that I’m a fair-weather friend, I never forget to thank Him when good fortune comes my way. I usually do that while walking. And I walk every day.
Of course, I make sure the conversation stays in my head. I don’t want people to think that I have lost it.
Others who are less forgiving because they are oh so righteous may find my excuse for not attending mass lame. Well, that’s their opinion.
Last January, during his general audience at the Vatican, Pope Francis condemned Catholics “who go to church every day but go on hating their fellow men.”
Although I’m not a hateful creature—really--I try very hard not to be a hypocrite. That’s why, I stay away.