With the rigid reality of our Educational Curricula , where traditional learning is school based and tinkering on the usual crowded repetition of English , Science , Math and the likes. What if we go to non traditional programs delving on performances like singing, painting and even other arts.

When Tagalog was offered at Harvard as an elective , we saw a new school of thought, one that broke away from the mold. University of the Philippines followed with On line Courses offered to different age group of learners at different months ( not the usual semester), we saw a new pathway of learning.

We may be so rigid on the traditionals that we forgot that man is an artist not only a scientist.

We maybe governed by the rote and routinely mundane things but we are satisfied with performance and art as a fulfilling medium of our humanity.

That is why, I see and suggest to have a reawakening of the arts, performance not merely technical and trade related skills but arts and music and films perhaps.

We need to make songs for others. We need to weave , we need to paint not for our grades but to add to the tapestry of the bigger story in which humanity can be pleased.

As we go into the LENT, we can relived Jesus passion by the arts, by theatre, by painting depicting His love.

And I do believe Arts, Performances, are as vital as the subjects we consume everyday.
That it actually enhances and nourishes our humanity.

And that it must be of primacy that we see these constructs as necessary staple that would raise our love for life itself.

Thus, Special Program of the Arts, of Sports and the likes must also be al college mainstays.

It’s a way of touching base to who we are, humans, artists, children of God , that could glorify Him with skills not just for living but also for loving.

WITH the celebration of Palm Sunday which opens the Holy Week, we will be having a liturgy that is understandably quite long and heavy. We will go through some dark moments that will eventually end in a very glorious way.

And that’s because the Holy Week is the climax of the liturgical year since it represents the sharp transition from our state of sin, expressed in all our suffering we live through the Holy Week, to our state of glory and victory with the resurrection of Christ.

The darkest and the brightest moments of our life are acted out in the Holy Week. The ugliest of our malice and the fairest of the love of God which is offered to us to live out is dramatized and sacramentally presented to us in Holy Week.

Let’s be quick to savor this true character and value of Holy Week therefore, from the triumphal entry of Jesus to Jerusalem on Passion Sunday that starts the Holy Week, to Holy Thursday when Christ instituted the Holy Orders and Holy Eucharist, to Good Friday and then Easter Sunday.

To be sure, if we manage to put our mind and heart into the spirit of the Holy Week, we would have our faith strengthened, our devotion and piety fired up, our understanding of the meaning and purpose of our life with all its ups and downs, made most clear. We would end up most motivated to work on our sanctification, and its inseparable accompaniment of doing apostolate and sanctifying all the things of this world.

Yes, we have to be eager to go through the Holy Week, not because it is fun time with the family and friends in the beach and other resorts, but because it is the holiest of weeks.

It is THE week, the mother of all weeks, the most important week in the liturgical year, when we end the long penitential preparation of Lent and celebrate nothing less than the climax of Christ’s redemptive work with his passion, death and resurrection.

When we say “celebrate,” we are referring to a liturgical celebration where the events celebrated are not simply remembered, but are actually made present. This is the essence of the liturgy.

In the liturgy we become contemporaries of Christ and direct witnesses of the events. That’s how the reality portrayed by our faith is. It is a reality that, of course, goes far beyond what our senses can capture and what our intelligence can grasp. That is why we have to work out our faith. Otherwise, we would be hanging in the air.

It’s important that we don’t lose our spiritual bearing as we go through the Holy Week. We have to make some special effort to achieve this ideal, since the environment today is so paganized that many people prefer to be in the beaches rather than in churches during Holy Week.

If we go by our faith, it’s the week when we practice the most rigorous of our spirit of penance and sacrifice to match with the very passion and death of Christ on the Cross. That’s simply because we are meant to unite our whole life with the offering-sacrifice of Christ’s life to his Father. That way, we would also enjoy the consequence of Christ’s redemptive work—the victory of his resurrection which he shares with us.

As we mark today the triumph of Jesus Christ over the forces of evil and sin, let us not forget the teachings he imparted to all of mankind. The resurrection is the climax of his mission on earth. It served as the affirmation of all his teachings which were proven true by that single win over death. Without the resurrection, all the teachings that Jesus Christ gave to mankind would have turned fallacious. But our Lord Jesus Christ conquered death and prevailed over sin by way of a clean and honest win.

People are prone to employ means that are often contrary to goodness just in order to attain their goal. The tendency to depart from honest play seems normal strategy for one who is bent on attaining victory. There are people who pretend to embrace the pragmatic ways where the end is always important than the means. This is true in many forms of competitions where protagonists seem adept in employing means that although foul in its simplest sense, is found justified as the best way to ensure victory.

This explains why most, if not all of the candidates in the political arena are hell bent on employing every possible and available means just to ensure their victory at the polls. Being declared winner is what to them matters most considering that adverse actions and protests by the disgruntled losers often end futile and beyond the term in question. Those who prevailed in the elections are proclaimed and are able to hold office even against all protests and complaints being raised by those aggrieved.

But the competitions we face in life are but temporary events that come and go. The greater battle that we ought to conquer is our fight against the forces of evil. This can be done by simple tasks that could have lasting effect on the lives of many. Apart from the current clashes in politics, we must find time to know ourselves and realize that we are hard pressed facing the greater challenges within us. Winning over the undesirable traits that we cling to over the years is as important as any other.

The fight against the undesirable traits that are not in accord with the will of God is truly a tough one. We always want the easy way out and we try to leap over some rules just to attain our goals. Sure, there are a lot of ways to reach of desired goal. It is up to us to choose the means to reach our goals for as long as we end up winner. This is the prevailing condition upon which many people lodge their fight against the odds in life.

As we celebrate the joy of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is but fitting that we acknowledge our weaknesses that may bring us damnation. The message of Easter would be more meaningful if we keep true to our promise of turning away from evil and living in accordance with the will of God. Only if we succeed in conquering ourselves and be the master of our undesirable traits can we become a true winner.

But being winner is not the be all and end all in this journey of life. We ought to follow the way that was shown to us by Jesus Christ for it is the one that will lead us to eternal salvation. All other triumphs are but temporary and not bring us to our final destiny that is the resurrection.
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