Home for the Holy Week

Thanks to Mark, I'm now in Manila spending the Holy Week at home. He wrote in one of his letters that he hoped I'd spend time with my family in Manila this Holy Week since it's been 6 years since I last did. That reminded me that: "Hey, it's actually been 7 years since I was last home for the Holy Week."

While they weren't intentional, I realized that most of my overseas trips coincided with the Holy Week. Which led me to suddenly look back and remember where I was and what was I doing during those times. And a quick scan of my memory bank yielded these:

2000 - Spent Holy Week in Hong Kong because of a scheduling fiasco at work. Ended up watching movies at the hotel during the day and roaming around the shopping areas at night. (Hmmmm... sounds like what I do every weekend...)

2001 - Backpacking in Thailand. Got on buses and trains, going from one province to the next. I think I was somewhere in between Surat Thani and Hat Yai around Maundy Thursday.

2002 - Looking for a church in Paris. Yes, there were a lot of churches there, but most of them were turned into museums so they didn't have actual masses. But still we tried to find one. (We didn't.)

2003 - Tampico, Mexico. Spent it in a small beach town with amazing churches! It was a bit strange, but on Good Friday, they cover all the saints with black cloth, so all you see in the churches were figures cloaked in black. It was a bit eerie.

2004 - A cathedral in Salzburg, Austria. We heard Good Friday mass - which we didn't understand because it was in Latin. The highlight was hearing a choir of more than 50 people singing. Hearing their powerful voices amidst the excellent acoustics of the cathedral sent shivers down my spine.

2005 - Lazing around in Singapore. It was my first time to hang out at Jo's place, and I spent most of the holy week at her flat, in front of the telly, with a pint of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia and a loaf of Gardenia Fruit and Nut Loaf. Gosh! I miss that.

2006 - Back in Hong Kong. Since it was only a 4-day holiday and I wasn't able to get tickets early enough, I ended up spending Holy Week in my flat reading magazines and watching TV. I still remember distinctly that Mark and I were texting around that time, and he was telling me about their Easter vigil plans and he reminded me to hear mass. Then on Easter Sunday, he was telling me about his favorite part of the vigil - the part when they throw wood into the fire and it goes *poof*!

Now, i'm here at home! Just enjoyed a home cooked lunch courtesy of my sister. The peace and quiet that Manila has to offer during this time is simply splendid. No honking cars, no frenetic people running about... just peace and quiet.

This is the perfect Holy Week environment. Perfect for recollecting and putting the mind at ease. Because it reminds us how calm and peaceful the world can be. And this is possible because He made it possible. The lessons He taught and the sacrifices He made is what brought us here. And while going out of the country is nice, this is a much more excellent way to spend the Holy Week.

Thank goodness Mark reminded me.