Why I Fear Holy Week

That time of the year that I dread the most has come – holy week.

My pronouncement I know sounds off-key to many ears, since why on earth I am saying this when you and the rest of the Christians out there look forward to it? The answer is very simple: I am one person who dislikes too many rituals. And my religion, in my own perception, overwhelms me with too many rituals, most especially during Lent.

Holy week means to me frequent visits to the church to hear mass, participate in vigils, venerate images and all. And this is a quite a struggle for me since I am already satisfied with my once-a-week trip to the church to hear the word of God. More than satisfied even.

But there is nothing I can do except to comply with such rituals. It has become a way of life in other words, due largely to my religious and cultural conditioning which started when I was young. Add to that my trepidation of being questioned by my “convent-bred” relatives around me if I in case I missed a ritual or two.

Can you imagine now the pressure I get during this time of the year?

The sad part, though, is that I only have a modest understanding of the goings-on or happenings during Lent. All I know is that holy week is a commemoration of the sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ – no more and no less. Don’t ask me questions about the nitty-gritty details of all those rituals during Lent, for I would rather answer a math problem than answer those since I don’t have that much clues.

But given the time and resources, I would love to learn more…..

Don’t get me wrong but I don’t have anything against my religion and all the rituals that come with it. It’s just that perhaps my DNA sequencing produced a rebellious trait in me which explains why I am quite of a non-conformist. And I take my hats off to the devout ones out there – good for you.

On a serious note, I suppose that my belief and faith in God are not anchored on religious symbolism and rituals. You could perceive me to be less of a Catholic based on this, but definitely not less of a God believer.

I would rather be a good person but less of a churchgoer, than a churchgoer but less of a good person.

And so I fear holy week because of the numerous obligations that come with it, which I view as all for the sake of mere compliance to religious norms.

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Postscript:

When people participate in holy week activities, do they really

understand the essence of such?