Reflections yet again

"You Catholics do not celebrate your religion...you mourn it." - Selma Hayek, Dogma

Up until now, I still haven't solve my accounting problem. I have found a way to actually fix it but unfortunately the Task Force is giving me a hard time. I really don't know where they get the budget for their particular sectors. I have searched every single budget that was made for this project but I couldn't find where the hell did they get the money to adjust their budget. It seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

Anyway, today is Ash Wednesday. It's the start of the start of Lent (I hope I got the spelling write or my religion teachers will kill me) and it's also a start of fasting and abstinence. All my life, even when I was a kid we have been practicing fasting and abstinence at home. Even if I was only 7 years old at that time, we were not allowed to eat meet starting Ash Wednesday and every Friday until Good Friday. It was like a tradition in the family to do so. Fasting for us starts when you turn 18, hence unfortunately even if I really need to eat a lot, I have to refrain my self from eating rice during the day time. So at the moment I have bread for my breakfast and lunch...here's hoping I get through today. :D

Anyway, the funny thing is, even though the Church has already gave the "law" of fasting and abstinence only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, we still practice the no meat every Friday but we can eat rice 3 times a day...at least I can eat rice during lunch...hehe. I guess we were already used to that practice and start to get ourselves ready for Holy Week. I guess it's just my families way of joining in the sacrifices that Kuya Jess has done just to save our souls.

I remember my father when he was still here. He doesn't eat during these times. I only see him drink water the whole day until dinner but I never saw him eat. Now that is such a sacrifice. But I guess he has been doing that since way before since I know his mother, my grandmother is a very religious woman. So I guess that she taught them the Catholic way of celebrating Holy Week.

I guess having a very religious family can do this to you. The good thing about it is that you get very high grades in all your religion subjects and you actually get to debate about religious issues that have been wondering about all these years. The down side is that friends tend to see you as weird and going over board.

In a way, I actually agree with what Selma Hayek said in Dogma. We Catholics tend to give more emphasis on Christ's death than all the good things he has done to the world. The Church just consider all his good works an "ordinary sunday" and when it's lent, we have forty days of reflection...fasting and abstinence...processions, salubongs, stations of the cross and so on and so forth. Why won't the Church view this as an "ordinary sunday" and the rest of the happy gospels a special sunday.

Anyway, I guess I wouldn't really know what the Church is thinking. But for me, I'll see to it that I can celebrate it as much as practicing Lent.