After (food for) thought
By Rex Catubig
LOOKING back, I remember it as the holiest of days; of quiet and solitude: Huwebes Santo and Viernes Santo of Lent.
It was hard on us kids because we were not allowed to play in the yard. And we were cautioned to be extra careful as wounds could take long to heal if you got hurt on “ambelat ya agew“.
The list of restrictions could make up a litany of saints and martyrs but somehow we always survived the impositions and curtailment and were just too eager to do the customary jump on Sabado de Gloria–to gain an extra inch of height. Perhaps as a form of indulgence for good behavior.
Flashforward to millennial Holy Thursday and baby boomers of my generation would suffer vertigo as the divine and the deviant are juxtaposed in a sacrilegious mix–side by side and all around– just like in stockpots of steaming white rice arroz caldo contrasting with achuete infused sotanghon sabaw.
In these holiest of days, hunger for redemption has as much urgency as hunger for food. Church and food court are adjacent to each other. In fact, the church is surrounded by makeshift food stalls. It would be no surprise if the Last Supper was a street food binge among the weary and famished dabarkads.
On second thought, maybe food has a redemptive value that we have overlooked. Maybe one does not sin as much as when the stomach is full. Just imagine, had Adam and Eve been given enough food choices and not limited to keto diet, they would have snubbed the forbidden apple and avoided committing the original sin.
Just maybe, the way to man’s salvation is through his grumbling stomach. Were it not for the appetizing apple, brokered by the first diet sales snake, fashion would never have flourished. We would have been delivered unto everlasting life of innocence in our “Emperor’s new clothes”.
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
