Solidarity through Prayers

Today is Good Friday, one of the most important holidays of the Catholic Church.

Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, mass gatherings related to Holy Week are canceled. The last time this happened was during the war, which means this postponement is the first time in the lifetime of many of us.

Pope Francis holds Mass for Holy Thursday in St. Peter's Basilica

Extended

I was halfway through the movie “A Simple Favor” when my brother said that the president is already giving his address late Tuesday night.

Drifting in and out of sleep while watching, I was only able to catch quite a few of what he said as he’s slurring that I don’t know if I’d feel annoyed or sorry for him. He looks resigned, exhausted and almost hopeless that he even asked why this pandemic had to happen during his presidency.

Sure, there are so many things that sent me at my wits’ end with this administration’s (in)competency in handling this situation, but I also realized how any leader of a third-world country like ours will be brought down to his knees at a crisis of this magnitude.

I am in no way excusing him, only that I think it’ll be better to deal with the missteps later when the dust settles. Call it abstinence or perhaps a show of compassion since it’s the Holy Week, but I’d refrain from denouncing what the government is doing for the meantime and just pray this will be over soon.

Worse Than The Virus

Reading posts about the COVID-19 pandemic on Facebook (confirmed cases as of this writing: 3,246, deaths: 152) already triggers paranoia that I never thought I had in me, but even worse are the godawful posts related to how the government and the people are handling the crisis.

I believe that how you act at a time like this only shows the person you really are. I read about how some residents in Dinalupihan, Bataan opted out on the relief goods for poorer, more deserving families. But I’ve also seen a video of a man throwing relief goods to the ground because he said it isn’t enough.