Not Just a Holy Week

The Catholic world observes Holy Week this week and starting Thursday till Sunday, there will be no work here in the Philippines. So, I shall be signing off from the web starting tomorrow -- hopefully taking enough time to reflect on the meaning of this season and also to rest. We should be back on the net by Monday, March 28.

Holy Week means different things to different people back here. To some, it means more time in church and keeping busy with other religious activities. To some, it is time to rest from work and just stay home. For some, it is time for a grand holiday and vacation with the family. Different strokes for different folks. Whatever you find yourself doing (or not doing though), please take a little time to say a prayer, give thanks to God for dying on the cross for our sins, and make sure to rejoice come Easter time -- in a God who is always truly alive!

Holy Week is truly a time for rest. We rest easy in our God who loves us beyond what we can ever imagine. We relax knowing that He knows what is best. We lift up all our cares to the One who can handle them all.

So if sometimes we all feel like sheep being led to the shearer's (or even more tragically, to the slaughter), let us remember to look to the Shepherd as Psalm 23 (TEV) teaches us:

" The Lord is my shepherd
I have everything
I need.
He lets me rest in fields of
green grass
and leads me to quiet
pools of fresh water.
He gives me new strength.
He guides me in the right paths
as He has promised.
Even if I go through the
deepest darkness,
I will not be afraid, Lord
for you are with me.
Your shepherd's rod and
staff protect me.
You prepare a banquet for
me
where all my enemies
can see me;
you welcome me as an
honored guest
and fill my cup to the brim.
I know that your goodness
and love will be with
me all my life;
and your house will be my
home for as long as I live."

All my life. Not sometime in my life. A few days in my life. One day in my life but all of my life. All of your life. So look to the Shepherd and I wish you not just a Holy Week but a holy life. Not easy -- but call on Him who can give you the strength and the desire to even try.

Have a Happy Easter. God bless you and yours. :-)