Broken bread
Broken bread
Posted 00:22am (Mla time) Mar 24, 2005
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A10 of the March 24, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
EASTER may have the climax, but Maundy Thursday has the oldest practices peculiar to Holy Week. Of course, many Catholics associate Holy Thursday with the Mass since the day commemorates the institution of the Holy Eucharist. And since the Mass is basically a celebration, it is not surprising that many of the practices revolving around Maundy Thursday are joyous, a foil to the pathos of Good Friday and the grief of Black Saturday.
Since the day has a practical character -- the preparation for the Lord's sacrifice on the cross -- Holy Thursday has evolved into a day of different accessory ceremonies. In ancient Rome, for example, while the preparation for candidates for baptism was being finalized, the Catholic Church also celebrated "missa chrismalis," the ritual for the preparation of the holy oils that would be used for the baptisms and other important liturgical rituals. Along with the baptism of neophytes, penitents took part in reconciliation ceremonies.
That Maundy Thursday is associated with rituals of preparation is evident in the washing of the feet. Biblically, the washing was a prelude to the Last Supper, and was a form of libation or cleansing. Theologically, too, it became a ritual of self-debasement or humility, since Christ made the gesture of washing the feet of his apostles in order to deliver his message more powerfully for the apostles to be servants of the people. Service, to Christ, means nothing short of self-sacrifice. He himself set the powerful example when he died on the cross.
The Last Supper, of course, prefigured that sacrifice. As the central event that instituted the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, it took its chief symbolism from the breaking of the bread, which was both a metaphor for fellowship and for sacrifice. That Christ instructed his apostles to do the supper in his memory indicates that sharing and sacrifice are two sides of the same coin.
All of these injunctions and encouragement should indicate that Maundy Thursday is the day in which Christians prepare themselves in order to be able to fulfill Christ's mandate (Maundy comes from the Latin "mandatum," which means mandate). The Christian imperative is to love one another and share in the fellowship of service and sacrifice.
Broken people
IN THE PHILIPPINES, the joyous preparatory character of Maundy Thursday is quite evident in the "visita iglesia," in which penitents become pilgrims going the rounds of churches to perform in quite a literal fashion the passion of the Christ, as summed up in the 14 Stations of the Cross. The latter devotion has been updated by the addition of a 15th station, the Resurrection, obviously as a corrective to what some critical churchmen and modern Catholics perceive to be the martyrdom complex of the Filipinos, their penchant for bathos and self-disparagement.
The addition is quite unfortunate because the liturgy is performative, and it would be pointless to perform the resurrection while going through the motions of sacrifice and death, which are the foci of the Stations of the Cross. And in the colorful calendar of the Roman Catholic Church, there is an appointed time for everything. Insinuating the resurrection on a day traditionally reserved for the performance of rituals to prefigure the sacrifice is poor programming. It makes Easter redundant.
Moreover, the attitude that looks at the Filipino Catholics' rituals of sacrifice and martyrdom as nothing but defeatist and fatalist is arrogantly secular and liberal, sensibilities that are basically anti-religion. These sensibilities have given rise to the sun-sunny and saccharine attitude of evangelicals and charismatics. Culturally, this is manifested in the media's and other sectors' determination to trumpet "world-class" Filipinos and their international victories. Tired of defeats and sorry stories, this nation wagers on Manny Pacquiao to give it a nice feeling. Now that Pacquio has lost ...
But there's no denying Filipinos are a broken people. But so are the others. Brokenness comes not only from the struggles and pains of existence, but also from the divisions and backbiting that obtain during the struggles. A people's solidarity amid sufferings should indicate that they would come off the challenge whole and more consummate. They go through the rituals of brokenness to be reconstituted as a people. And that's the promise -- and mandate -- of Easter.
Posted 00:22am (Mla time) Mar 24, 2005
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A10 of the March 24, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
EASTER may have the climax, but Maundy Thursday has the oldest practices peculiar to Holy Week. Of course, many Catholics associate Holy Thursday with the Mass since the day commemorates the institution of the Holy Eucharist. And since the Mass is basically a celebration, it is not surprising that many of the practices revolving around Maundy Thursday are joyous, a foil to the pathos of Good Friday and the grief of Black Saturday.
Since the day has a practical character -- the preparation for the Lord's sacrifice on the cross -- Holy Thursday has evolved into a day of different accessory ceremonies. In ancient Rome, for example, while the preparation for candidates for baptism was being finalized, the Catholic Church also celebrated "missa chrismalis," the ritual for the preparation of the holy oils that would be used for the baptisms and other important liturgical rituals. Along with the baptism of neophytes, penitents took part in reconciliation ceremonies.
That Maundy Thursday is associated with rituals of preparation is evident in the washing of the feet. Biblically, the washing was a prelude to the Last Supper, and was a form of libation or cleansing. Theologically, too, it became a ritual of self-debasement or humility, since Christ made the gesture of washing the feet of his apostles in order to deliver his message more powerfully for the apostles to be servants of the people. Service, to Christ, means nothing short of self-sacrifice. He himself set the powerful example when he died on the cross.
The Last Supper, of course, prefigured that sacrifice. As the central event that instituted the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, it took its chief symbolism from the breaking of the bread, which was both a metaphor for fellowship and for sacrifice. That Christ instructed his apostles to do the supper in his memory indicates that sharing and sacrifice are two sides of the same coin.
All of these injunctions and encouragement should indicate that Maundy Thursday is the day in which Christians prepare themselves in order to be able to fulfill Christ's mandate (Maundy comes from the Latin "mandatum," which means mandate). The Christian imperative is to love one another and share in the fellowship of service and sacrifice.
Broken people
IN THE PHILIPPINES, the joyous preparatory character of Maundy Thursday is quite evident in the "visita iglesia," in which penitents become pilgrims going the rounds of churches to perform in quite a literal fashion the passion of the Christ, as summed up in the 14 Stations of the Cross. The latter devotion has been updated by the addition of a 15th station, the Resurrection, obviously as a corrective to what some critical churchmen and modern Catholics perceive to be the martyrdom complex of the Filipinos, their penchant for bathos and self-disparagement.
The addition is quite unfortunate because the liturgy is performative, and it would be pointless to perform the resurrection while going through the motions of sacrifice and death, which are the foci of the Stations of the Cross. And in the colorful calendar of the Roman Catholic Church, there is an appointed time for everything. Insinuating the resurrection on a day traditionally reserved for the performance of rituals to prefigure the sacrifice is poor programming. It makes Easter redundant.
Moreover, the attitude that looks at the Filipino Catholics' rituals of sacrifice and martyrdom as nothing but defeatist and fatalist is arrogantly secular and liberal, sensibilities that are basically anti-religion. These sensibilities have given rise to the sun-sunny and saccharine attitude of evangelicals and charismatics. Culturally, this is manifested in the media's and other sectors' determination to trumpet "world-class" Filipinos and their international victories. Tired of defeats and sorry stories, this nation wagers on Manny Pacquiao to give it a nice feeling. Now that Pacquio has lost ...
But there's no denying Filipinos are a broken people. But so are the others. Brokenness comes not only from the struggles and pains of existence, but also from the divisions and backbiting that obtain during the struggles. A people's solidarity amid sufferings should indicate that they would come off the challenge whole and more consummate. They go through the rituals of brokenness to be reconstituted as a people. And that's the promise -- and mandate -- of Easter.
posted by Dante at 8:00 PM
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