Bared... Food for thought this Lenten season

Tagbilaran, Sunday, 17 April 2011 04:58:26

Wake-uppers:

• Central Visayas bets Blake Mahecha Valles was declared second runner-up and Felisse Marie Carvajal was top 5 in the Ginoo and Mutya ng Prisaa 2011 held on April 13 in Zamboanga City. The Ginoo and Mutya ng Prisaa 2011 was one of the highlights of this year's Private Schools Athletic Association (Prisaa), an athletic competition among private schools in the
  
  country. "Despite and in spite the budgetary constraints, we were able to make do with what we had... well-supported ang ibang regions, maka suya jud... hahay... what a learning and eye-opening experience," said Bohol's seasoned host Raul Gatal (who chaperoned the candidates) on his Facebook account. On the other hand, Region 7's official stylist Charlow Cielo Arbasto was in seventh heaven during the Prisaa as he was rubbing elbows with heartthrobs from the different regions most especially with Mr. Region 4 from Cavite.
• Are you also going on a Visita Iglesia trip this Holy Week? My nephew Ajade and I visited 20 Roman Catholic Churches last week for my report on visita iglesia. Visita Iglesia are Spanish words for "church visits." Filipinos traditionally visit 14 churches in remembrance of the 14 Stations of the Cross. In Bohol, there are centuries-old churches and others lack the historical appeal of Bohol's other churches, however, a visit is a good try for spiritual journey. Mediate and pray at Alburquerque (Sta. Monica Parish), Anda (Sto Nino Parish), Alicia (San Joaquin), Antequera (The Nuestra Señora del Rosario), Baclayon (The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception), Balilihan (Nuestra Señora del Carmen Parish), Calape (San Vicente Ferrer), Candijay (Saint Joseph),Corella (Parish of Our Lady of the Village), Cortes (Santo Niño Parish), Dauis (Church of Our Lady of the Assumption), Dimiao (San Nicolas Tolentino Parish), Duero (Immaculate Conception), Garcia Hernandez (St. John the Baptist), Getafe (Santo Niño), Guindulman (Nuestra Señora de la Consolacion), Inabanga (San Pablo Apostol), Jagna (San Miguel Arcángel Parish), Lila (Virgin of the Holy Rosary), Loay (Santissima Trinidad Parish), Loboc (Church of San Pedro), Loon (Church of Our Lady of Light), Maribojoc (Santa Cruz Parish), Panglao (San Agustin Parish), Tagbilaran City (Cathedral of San José), Talibon (Most Holy Trinity), and Valencia (Santo Niño Parish).

  See a nice video featuring Jesat Cathy Duce on YouTube of those churches in Bohol.

To God be the glory, great things He has done;
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life gate that all may go in.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He has done.
O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Great things He has taught us, great things He has done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.

That hymn To God Be the Glory written by prolific blind hymnist and one of America's great women Fanny Crosby comes to mind this Holy Week when we reflect on the death of Christ and that of our loved ones. I shared this to all readers out there (who are also in a "reflective" mood) along with an article titled The Scientific Death of Jesus (author unknown), shared by environmentalist Zen Darunday and Auring Balili (of New York).

It's Holy Week, time to reflect how much Christ suffered in order that we might be saved.

At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death penalty.

At the time crucifixion was the "worst" death. Only the worst criminals are condemned to be crucified. Yet it was even more dreadful for Jesus, unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion Jesus was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet.

Each nail was 5 to 8 inches long.

The nails were driven into His wrist. Not into His palms as is commonly portrayed. There's a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder. The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the wrist that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support himself so that He could breath.

Both of His feet were nailed together. Thus He was forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross. Jesus could not support himself with His legs because of the pain so He was forced to alternate between arching His back then using his legs just to continue to breath. Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the courage.

Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours. Yes, over 3 hours! Can you imagine this kind of suffering? A few minutes before He died, Jesus stopped bleeding.

He was simply pouring water from his wounds.

From common images we see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear wound to His side. But do we realize His wounds were actually made in his body. A hammer driving large nails through the wrist, the feet overlapped and an even large nail hammered through the arches, then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear. But before the nails and the spear Jesus was whipped and beaten. The whipping was so severe that it tore the flesh from His body. The beating so horrific that His face was torn and his beard ripped from His face. The crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp. Most men would not have survived this torture.

He had no more blood to bleed out, only water poured from His wounds. The human adult body contains about 3.5 liters (just less than a gallon) of blood.

Jesus poured all 3.5 liters of his blood; He had three nails hammered into his members; a crown of thorns on his head and, beyond that, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into his chest.

All these without mentioning the humiliation He passed after carrying his own cross for almost 2 kilometers, while the crowd spat in his face and threw stones (the cross was almost 30 kg of weight, only for its higher part, where his hands were nailed).

Jesus had to endure this experience, so that you can have free access to God. So that your sins could be "washed" away.

All of them, with no exception! Don't ignore this situation. Jesus Christ died for you! Do not believe that He only died for others (those who go to church or for pastors, bishops, etc). He died for you! It is easy to pass jokes or foolish photos by e-mail, but when it comes to God, sometimes you feel ashamed to forward to others because you are worried of what they may think about you.

God has plans for you, show all your friends what He experienced to save you.

Now think about this!

Email leoudtohan@yahoo.com.

Leo P. Udtohan