It is Palm Sunday. Holy Week begins today. I will be at Walkway: Reflections on the Stations of the Cross.
If you have never been to Walkway, I strongly urge you to go. There is no better way I know to meditate on your life and the love of Jesus. And when you visit, our paths may cross somewhere between the installations. We will be deep in thought, realizing perhaps how ungrateful we have been, feeling guilty and contrite for our indifference to His supreme sacrifice.
We all feel the pull of repentance at this time of the year, and some of us cry real tears and, faced with the blood on the Cross, promise never again. But we live in a fallen world, and we are imperfect men and women.
Walkway opens today at 11 a.m., at Bonifacio Global City promenade from Bonifacio High Street to One Bonifacio Park. It ends on Easter Sunday, April 1, with a free concert featuring Gary Valenciano.
‘Hakuna Matata’
I was at the premiere showing of “The Lion King” Sunday night at The Theatre at Solaire. What a spectacle.
The opening scene is breathtaking. Elephants lumber up the aisles. Giraffes are on parade. Gazelles leap on stage, and wild birds swoop up and down and around. It is awesome!
It took three years to develop “The Lion King” from a Disney award-winning movie masterpiece into the most amazing musical stage production ever. It opened on Broadway in 1997, and has since been seen by over 90 million people. It has been performed in eight different languages and has won over 70 international theater awards.
The creative genius of director Julie Taymor has held audiences all over the world spellbound, incredulous at such artistry and imagination. The music is by Elton John with lyrics by Tim Rice. I am still in awe.
The Solaire experience, presented by Michael Cassel Group and Concertus Manila in association with Disney Theatrical Productions, is the first of an international tour. Director is Thomas Schumacher.
As the New York Times says, “There is simply nothing like it.”
That night I fell in love with Gabriel Tiongson who played the young Simba. He and five other Filipino kids will be on board when the show goes on tour.
Theater note: Moms and dads, please keep your babies at home. We had one in front of us on opening night. Of course the baby fussed. It was distracting. I know how it is to have no one to leave the baby at home with. But, please!
Time to bond
Every so often, I make it a point to gather my grandchildren together for a meal at home, menu subject to their approval. It has been a while since our last “apo night.”
As I write this, I am trying to get as many of them as I can to share a meal and enjoy some bonding time before I leave on my yearly eight-to-10-week vacation.
It isn’t easy. Most of them are adults and have jobs. Some are married. It is difficult to get them all to agree on a date. A few of them live in the United States. But I will see them soon in Atlanta, Florida and Seattle. I can’t wait!
A good read
The other day, I came across “The Disease of Being Busy,” a thought-provoking article by well-known columnist Omid Safi who writes for the magazine On Being.
It takes us to task and talks about being so busy that we miss out on a more meaningful life.
Let me share a few lines. His words may shine a light for you to take a closer look at your own busy lives.
He asks: “How did we end up living like this? Why do we do this to ourselves? When did we forget that we are human beings, not human doings?
“Whatever happened to a world in which kids get muddy, get dirty, get messy and heavens, get bored?”
I also want to know: does anyone still play piko? Patintero? Hide and seek?
“What happened to a world in which we can sit with the people we love so much and have slow conversations about the state of our heart and soul, conversations that slowly unfold, conversations with pregnant pauses and silences that we are in no rush to fill?”
Mr. Safi warns the reader that the disease of being busy is destructive to our health and “saps our ability to be fully present with those we love the most in our families, and keeps us from forming the kind of community we all so desperately crave.”
He adds: “The lines between work and home have become blurred. We are on our devices. All. The. Freaking. Time. Smartphones and laptops mean there is no division between the office and home.”
I so agree.
Hitting home
The writer hits home when he addresses the way we communicate. Please take note.
“When I ask, ‘How are you?’ that is really what I want to know. I want to know how your heart is doing, at this very moment. Tell me. Tell me your heart is joyous, tell me your heart is aching, tell me your heart is sad, tell me your heart craves a human touch.
“Put your hand on my arm, look me in the eye and connect with me for one second. Tell me something about your heart, and awaken my heart.
“Help me remember that I too am a full and complete human being, a human being who also craves a human touch.”
Can you hear the pain?
There’s more. Google it.
