A Holy Week worth to remember

I find the Holy Week as one of my most celebrated religious activity of each year because as a choir member in the church during the days of my youth, we get so busy in preparing for the Maundy Thursday service, 7 Last Words during Good Friday, Black Saturday service and the grandest Easter Cantata. When I left for Cebu on 2007, Holy Week celebration became a normal day with me as I don't find it important only when I was still in GenSan.

Years gone by until I got baptized as a Roman Catholic on 2019, the Holy Week celebration has just been a commemorative day for the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross until I started to be passionate with my service with our Christian Community. The Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals is a Catholic organization where I and my wife had been members since 2017. Part of our service is to organize and inform the members about the new digital platform especially in embracing the new normal during the pandemic.

Being a visual learner, I usually incorporate information drive through videos with texts. At first, I aim to finish the 4 videos starting from Palm Sunday Prayer, Holy Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Gospels and just to post it on a daily basis. Then it came creating the Maundy Thursday video, I research for the scriptures, cross referencing the versions of the Bible, compiling video from movies, editing each movie scene versus the scriptures, music download for scoring, final layout with music and effects, transferring files from phone to drive to laptop to drive to phone -- then the finish product once it's posted on our Facebook Page, but that is just the technical side.

In between those technical stuff was starting to build a spiritual food that I never, ever expected. Each scene from videos reminds me more of Jesus Christ and each word of the scriptures touched my heart with a whisper of prayer, my prayers at night becomes emotional because of overwhelming joy and thanksgiving that I have done something for His Glory.

As I started to create the Good Friday video, so much emotion came in. I was already reflecting of who am I and Jesus as my savior, God's perfect plan was just unfolding right in front of my eyes, there's too much to be thanked for -- more than His daily blessings, a real joy because of His passion -- that He didn't deserved on the cross but Jesus made us to be deserved because of His great love. The 7 last words, struck me with my guilt, my failures but assured me of His promise of eternal life.

Creating the Black Saturday and Easter Sunday videos was also a transition of excitement and a feeling of waiting for His coming and resurrection. A promise that made in the Gospel of John 3:16, "For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believe in Him will not perish but have an ever lasting life."

This Holy Week was one of the most memorable ever, as I am re-acquainted with Jesus and who He is to me because of my sins that was paid on the cross over 2,000 years ago. My service for Him is so small for what He has done for me, a true conversion that will be a commitment until I'll join Him in heaven.