Been really busy and sick (which explains the lack of posts) but I finally have a chance to write so... here's my list of things learned on Wednesday...This week I'm tackling myths that many people (especially Hispanics and Filipinos from what I've seen) have regarding Holy Week and especially Good Friday. This post was inspired by my mother's insistence on doing everything today because it's "bad luck" to do things tomorrow. This is also a taste of a bigger series on Catholicism and myths surrounding it that I will be starting after Lent.
1) You can't bathe, wash clothing, or (really) do anything on Good Friday: superstition. As I said, my mom brought this up last night. She said she was doing the laundry today because we're not supposed to wash clothing tomorrow. I Googled it (just to make sure that I wasn't missing some legit custom) but it seems to be as bogus as the Twitter question I tweeted earlier this week (whether it was true that you couldn't cut your hair during Holy Week). I asked about other Good Friday superstitions and she mentioned that we shouldn't bathe tomorrow because it was like bathing in Christ's blood. I have never heard of that and some Google searching came up as more superstitious bunk. I don't think I need to remind y'all that we shouldn't be superstitious (and, in fact, it's one of the items on my iConfess app before I head into the confessional).
which is being written on Holy Thursday.
Growing up with lukewarm Catholic parents (one of whom was very superstitious; seriously, getting dad to break his superstitions at the end of his life took a lot of prayer), I had to break a lot of my superstitious beliefs when I returned to the Church and learnt this. If you're saying that superstitions are harmless, I will remind you (and you should really check out this New Advent article for a more thorough explanation) that to believe in superstition is believing that YOU can control the outcome of something by doing something you believe will bring out your desired outcome instead of trusting God and doing His will. Dangerous territory, y'all. I know it's hard when our (in my case, Hispanic) cultures are saturated with these beliefs but it's worth keep your souls safe to break them.
2) Things that make sense to not do on Good Friday: listen to music, have any type of big celebration, and, of course, eating meat. These are more common sense and out of respect for the day. We're in mourning. I will admit that I did listen to music during our mourning period right after my father died but music is how I express myself when I can't use words... and it's also comforting for me. I didn't do it the day he died or the day after but the following week I did. I didn't even think about how I wasn't supposed to because, like I said, it made me feel less depressed but I definitely won't be doing from tonight until Sunday. Music is/was my first love (St. Cecilia would be proud; there's a reason why I took her name as a middle name) but this is the exception. Jesus suffered and died for our sins and to not honor his sacrifice by giving up these little things is just one little way to pay our respects for what he did for us. Obviously, not eating meat (which, I can now thankfully abstain from since my stomach has been on the mend) is another but I think we all know that tomorrow is a day of fasting and abstinence. I can't fast (genetic hypoglycemic thing I inherited from my mom) but I am abstaining from meat, sweets, and other things. I'll also be wearing my black mantilla (chapel veil) when I attend the Via Crucis (Stations of the Cross) tomorrow.
3) Friendly reminder that the Divine Mercy novena starts tomorrow. As I did 2 years ago, I will post the novena prayer for the day on a daily basis during the 9 days for those who wish to pray along. Either check out this blog directly, check out my Twitter feed (or the FB page feed), or subscribe to get emails of new blog posts so you don't miss a single day. I'm going to schedule them so they post around noon PST (3 p.m. EST) every day. If you're in the middle of another novena (like I am; St. Thomas Aquinas for grad school), you can still begin the Divine Mercy novena, no problem. :D
And that is it for now. So that there isn't any post overload, if I end up writing during the 9 days the novena post will be posted early and whatever I write in addition will be posted late at night. :D
I hope you all have a prayerful and fruitful (you would be surprised how much a person can grow spiritually during these next couple of days) Paschal Triduum.
As always, thanks for reading and God bless! :D
