Holy day or holiday?

In the Christian year, the two most important days are Christmas and Easter. Advent is the period of celebration before Christmas. Lent is the time of sacrifice and penitence before Easter.

Christmas has a fixed date because it relates to the solar calendar. Easter, on the other hand, is linked to the different phases of the moon and, therefore, has a variable date. Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Among the Orthodox Churches, Easter is considered a more important holy day than Christmas.

The first Easter celebration was done right after the Jewish festival called the Passover. In the course of time, the Christian calendar diverged from the Jewish calendrical calculations. Eventually, the Catholic Church fixed the Easter date as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.

In the Philippines we do not have spring. Therefore, the term “spring equinox” is meaningless to us. The word “equinox” refers to the date — twice each year — when the sun crosses the equator. In temperate countries, it is at this time that day and night are of equal length. But the Philippines is a tropical country, so this does not happen here.

The two dates are called the spring equinox and the autumn equinox. The spring equinox happens either on or shortly after March 20. Thus, Easter can fall anywhere across a range five weeks from late March to late April.

The three-day period before Easter Sunday is popularly known as Holy Week. This is the climax of the Lenten period. For all Christians, Holy Week is supposed to be the time of the year for the greatest solemnity, most serious meditation, and a time of fasting.

The Friday before Easter Sunday, is known as Good Friday. This commemorates when Jesus Christ died on the cross on Calvary. This is the most solemn day which demands the most sacrifices among Christians.

There are several theories for the origin of the term “Good Friday.” One explanation is that the day commemorates the self-sacrificing death of Jesus Christ on the cross. He offered his life for the “good” of humanity. Another explanation is that the term is derived from “God’s Friday.”

Today, there is no doubt that Holy Week is becoming more of a holiday than holy days. The Islamic equivalent for Lent is the Ramadan. But the Muslims seem to take the religious aspect — including fasting — more seriously than the Christians do during their own observation of Lent.

For more and more Christians, Holy Week, including even Good Friday, is not a time for recollections and fasting. Rather it is a time for vacationing in their hometowns or on some beach resort.

This four-day period conjures images — not of the death of Christ on the cross and His resurrection  —but of hometown family reunions or sunbathing in Boracay or walking around Baguio’s fast disappearing pine trees.

Holy Week seems to be more the equivalent of the July 4 weekend in the United States; the Chinese New Year weekend in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China; or, the Golden Week in August in France. During these periods, everybody in those countries, from adults to schoolchildren, go on vacation. All businesses and shops are closed. But these days are not holy days.

Holy Week should be a time for reflections and meditations. I invite my readers to find some quiet moments and find some relevant reading materials. You can reflect, for example, on some of the words that Pope Francis has recently written. Here are a few:

“The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and aguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience. Whenever our interior life becomes caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is no longer room for others, no place for the poor. God’s voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of his love no longer felt, and the desire to do good fades. This is a very real danger for believers too. Many fall prey to it, and end up resentful, angry and listless. That is no way to live a dignified and fulfilled life; it is not God’s will for us, nor is it the life in the spirit which has its source in the heart of the risen Christ.”

During these days, aside from novels, it would be good to do some religious reading. It can be the Bible, the Stations of the Cross or, my favorite, the lives of Saints. Again, Pope Francis says that doing a recollected reading of any religious text, it would be good to ask some questions. He gives examples of these questions:

“Lord what does this text say to me? What is it about my life that you want to change by this text? What troubles me about this text? Why am I not interested in this? Or perhaps: What do I find pleasant in this text? What is it about this word that moves me? What attracts me? Why does it attract me? “

Let us, in the next three days before Easter, remember and be grateful that Christ died for our sins, which means he died because of our sins and to overcome our sinfulness and its effects in the world.

We also remember that Christ “descended into the dead” which means he really and truly experienced death. But we will look forward to his Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

This is the Good News of salvation. Christ has died. Christ is Risen. Christ will come again.

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