Holy Week is a time of reflection just as Lent is a time of sacrifice and fasting. Lent ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. Suffice it to say that for Catholics, the fast for food and festivities ends at Easter.
Most people, however, go on vacation during Holy Week. Not me. And not because I’m a “good” Catholic but because I don’t normally go with the flow. Holy Week is usually a working week for me — well, at least, most of it.
Holy Week is the longest holiday in the country, a four-day holiday beginning with Holy Thursday and ending with Easter Sunday. And this year, it’s a five-day holiday with the celebration of Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor), Monday after Easter.
Are you necessarily a bad Catholic if you take a break instead of reflect during Holy Week? Are you necessarily a bad Catholic if you don’t fast during Lent? Are you necessarily a bad Catholic because you don’t confess, receive Holy Communion or attend mass, regularly?
Are you necessarily a good Catholic because you go to church, receive Holy Communion and confess regularly but are mean-spirited and spiteful every day? Are you necessarily a good Catholic because you recite the prayers and do the rituals yet continue to lie, cheat and defraud?
Are you necessarily a good Catholic because you generously give to church and charity yet willfully withhold time, love and affection from your family? Are you necessarily a good Catholic because you fast from food during Lent yet don’t fast from bashing, bragging and bullying?
Are you necessarily a bad Catholic because you eat whatever is on the table during Lent but work hard and honestly to put that food on the table for your family? Are you necessarily a bad Catholic because you choose to spend time with your family during Holy Week rather than pray and reflect?
I was baptized and raised Catholic but I don’t subscribe to the rules and rituals so I prefer to call myself a nominal Catholic. Are all nominal Catholics necessarily bad Catholics?
Do I still go to church? I do. Wherever I am in the world, every chance I get, I fall on my knees and pray — to thank God for all that He has given me, to ask God to watch over those back home and to ask God for His blessing to continue my journey and be able to return home, safe and sound.
I don’t go to church out of fear, guilt or obligation. I go to church when the desire, not the fear of becoming persona non grata, strikes me. I don’t pray because I think not praying will bring me eternal damnation. I pray because I need God like I need air. And I reflect. Because how does one live without reflection?
Is it possible that there are no good or bad Catholics, just Catholics who follow the rules and Catholics who don’t? All I know is that we are all loved by God and that whenever we do what we can to live good lives, He stands proud.