Jesus is not dead

     Close to midnight, the sound of struggling English by both Filipina (because yes, there are foreign ones living large in Manila, I hear) prostitute and Korean man, the sounds of their moaning, giggling too, again.

     I tried to ignore it all, while working by the window again.  I felt different this time, empowered by today's service at church.  It is Good Friday,and today from 1:00-3:00pm we heard the "7 last words".  Afterwards, there was a mass, people kissed Jesus' feet, and many of us went on trying to have a reflective, meditative day.  Tonight I remembered what the priest said about battling the devil. We are confident, because we have God with us.  Did Jesus say don't get mad?

     I shut off my lights, lifted my window blinds noisily, and banged the windows shut.  This made the girl jump off the bed. Then, the man peered out, standing at the window's side. Ha! I banged the window with my palm hard. This time I felt cooler and calmer.

    What I really wanted to do was yell "Do you know what DAY this is????" and "YOU turn your aircon off, hang curtains, and shut YOUR windows, not me".
I realized I was the one suffering the stuffy room, I was the one getting upset. SO against my conscience's pleading, I checked again. They were gone!  I looked down and their car was gone too!  Hurray! I don't care if they were really due to leave anyway, I scared them off. They got the message.  And I didn't have to say a word.

     Thank you Jesus, I prayed.  Talking this way about Jesus is not something I do often.  I keep my faith to myself and I have my conversations privately.  But tonight I just felt its true power.

     I just met an old friend, who also longed for the very quiet, restful Good Fridays of the '70s and '80s..when we were kids.  Now, many shops and services remain open, people go swimming (forbidden by our mothers), make noise at 3pm (we had to be quiet and praying). All in the name of respecting that not everyone is Catholic or practicing.  I do feel winds blowing back to the time of veils and Latin mass...I'm not sure I would like that extreme, but how do we compromise? In Bali, there is one day in the year reserved for a celebration (which I forget) where EVERYTHING is shut down.  Regardless of the presence of tourists, there is no work, people stay indoors, and it gets dark as well.  The tourists are expected to respect this. I wonder if they do to this day.  I don't even want to think of the wasteland that is Boracay at this time.

    In Sta. Rosa, Mercury Drug was open, most other shops were closed.  There was still the usual traffic on the highway, though I did not venture further out to really check.

    That's because it's Good Friday, and I had planned on (not even going online) meditating and reflecting on the Passion of Christ.