The Holy Week particularly the Holy Triduum gives us a special reminder how God truly loves us.  The Holy Triduum are very important days that starts from Maundy Thursday and ends on Easter Sunday.  Through these years, I realized that we can learn so much from this occasion in having a life with significance.  I prepared 7 successful principles that this important week can teach us.

Day 1.  Welcome new ideas for improvement.  When Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, like a celebrity; the Jews received Him with open arms and waving their palms as He enter the great city.  The priests on the other hand, during those time were alarmed that Jesus will do something that will shake their influence in the heart of Israel.  They are afraid that the attention of the people will be focused to Jesus and they will be soon neglected.

In our life, we are sometimes not open for new ideas that are just in front of us.  We have an invisible wall that act as a barrier from the opportunities that are offered to us.  May be this is because of pride like the priests during those times, they looked at Jesus as a threat to their power.  Sometimes its because we are afraid of change since it will push us outside of our comfort zone.  Sometimes we feel that we know everything and listening to ideas of others is just a waste of time.  In my observation, this attitude will hinder our success greatly.  It will cause stagnation to our selves, our relationships to others, our business and our community.

“Growth is only found outside of our comfort zone.”

One of the ingredients to have a successful life is allowing our selves to embrace new ideas that can make us better.  New ideas that can help to improve our way of life.  New ideas that will give us opportunity to serve and love others.  Somebody once said that the only permanent thing in this world is change.  We need to embrace change in order for us to embrace growth.

Day 2.  Focus on your goals and never give up.  From the beginning, Jesus knows the plan of the Father for Him.  It was all written in the Bible that there were hindrances and trials along the way that tempted to divert His attention to the goal.  There is this scenario that the devil tried to tempt Him but failed.  He endured all the hardships.  He maintained His focus and never gave up.  During the Pass over, the priests are panicking already thinking that Jesus will give them headache.  So they give Jesus a hard time hoping somehow along the way He will just give up.  But, they failed big time because Jesus persisted.  He was true to His mission and succeeded.

“Focus and perseverance are key things to get the job done.”

In our life, do not let distraction affect your goals and aspirations.  Focus and commitment are very important to get the job done.  These will help to achieve straight to your goals.  One thing I learned in doing our IMG Business is that you cannot achieve anything that you want to reach if you have lack of focus.  You should stay committed and take actions whatever it takes to complete the task.

Finally, your focus will be useless if you give up along the way.  The main difference of a successful person from those who are not is the ability to fight all the odds and simply just never give up.

Day 3.  Serve others.  Serve the community.  It was a splendid scene when Jesus washed and kiss the feet of all His disciples.  It is a great reminder that we need to love and serve others.  By doing this, Jesus is telling us that we need to be humble enough so that we can serve other.

When I attended the Maundy Thursday mass at Ahmadi Church and saw Fr. Alfred Micua washing and kissing the feet of 12 representatives from the community, I realized our responsibility to others.  By going down on our knees, we are showing respect and humility.  The 12 disciples can be represented by different sectors of the society which include children, men, women, young and old, with teeth or without teeth, with hair or without hair.  They are all part of the community and we have a moral obligation to help.

“One of the ways to store treasure in heaven is by serving others.”

I realized the it’s been almost 10 years already from when I first called to serve the church community.  I cannot imagine to be an Extra Ordinary Minister of the Holy Communion before.  I am very thankful to be part of the community and remind that we need to be always connected with God.

To find true success, we should learn how to serve others and the community with meekness and compassion.  Somehow we need to realize to give back using our 3 Ts (time, talent and treasure) because one of the ways to store treasure in heaven is by doing good things to others.

Day 4.  Integrity will make or break you.  We all know that Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus during that time. And we also know that he killed himself after that because he cannot afford to forget what he did to his friend.  Even Peter denied Jesus three times when asked if he knew the Messiah.  The disciples are really afraid during those times and in a constant pressure on what is happening.  Their faith is tested on the hardships that Jesus is facing.

“If we want lasting relationships, we need to understand the significance of integrity.”

Integrity is an important chunk in any relationship.  If this is lost, it is not easy to bring back.  If it brought back there is always doubt.  Integrity is the brother of trust.  It should be maintained if we want to be truly successful.

As we deal with people everyday, it is fulfilling to know that our reputation is intact.  It is imperative that we can walk with our head up because we know that we did not step on other people shoes.  If we want lasting relationships, we should understand the significance of integrity.

Day 5.  Pray…  Pray… Pray…  The Garden of Gethsemane is the place where Jesus prayed hard while His disciples were asleep before His crucifixion.  Prayer is a very powerful way of connecting with God.  It also a practice of letting God love us by deepening our relationship with him.

We need to seek guidance from the Lord always on all our decisions in life.  This is a sign of surrendering our hardships to the one in charge.  We can achieve true discernment by connecting with Him.

I remember when my son, Jade went out on one of our weekly dates.  We talked and discussed his plans for the future and anything under the sun.  He talked about his aspirations and what he wants to do.  He was not afraid to discuss everything and listened to my opinions and suggestions.  Similarly, our God is our father and through prayer, we can ask for anything.  We can discuss anything and lift up our plans to Him.

“Disconnect to get connected with God.”

In a world nowadays full of technological advances including gadgets, people become busy on their own lives that sometimes we forget that we need to be connected with God.  We have a choice to disconnect technology for a while to have a silent time with God.  Turn off the social media, email or telephone and decide to be connected with our Creator.

Day 6.  Celebrate your weakness.  Jesus died on the Cross to redeem our sins.  It is the greatest tragedy in the world.  God gave his only son because He loves us so much.  Because of this, we have our faith and belief today.

In our life, we have our own weaknesses and brokenness.  We have our own failures and lapses.  We need to celebrate them to bless the world.  Example of this is how some disable people do like everyone else despite of their inabilities.  They can be like others because they decide to celebrate their brokenness.  This also reminded us of Nick Vujicic.  He was born without arms and legs but look at him today, he is a pastor and one of the most sought after motivational speaker in the world because he chose to celebrate his weakness.  He go and preach to the world his brokenness which bless and give strength to others.

“For when I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:10

You might have some trials in your life right now.  You might be facing difficulties with your relationships right now.  You might be drowning in debts right now.  We all have time of rigors and hardships in life.  God wants us to know that these weaknesses can be our strength as long as we believe and trust in Him.

Day 7.  Be an Easter Person.  After three days, Jesus resurrected.  This is the time of rejoicing because Jesus died and rose up from the dead.  This is one of the great mysteries that bind the Christian faith.  It simply shows that in every end, there is always a beginning.  Our dear God is reminding us there is always hope for any difficulties we face in our lives.  For there is darkness, there is also light.  For when we fall, we will also rise.  For there is failure, there is also victory.

“Tough times will not last, tough people will.”

Being an Easter person is always expecting for a sunny day after a long hard rain.  We expect good results despite of our challenges that distract us in achieving our goals.  Being an Easter person is having a positive outlook in life and looking only for the good and not focusing on the bad even if bad things happen.  We will encounter a lot of difficulties in life but an Easter person accepts them with a smile in his face thinking that hard times will pass.

Holy week allows us to experience how God gave his only son to redeem our sins.  It is a time to reflect and step back to relax and feel the love of God.   These success principles can guide us to have a fulfilling and successful life.  Live with it and live by it until we achieve true success.

Do you know other success principles that we can learn from the Holy Week?  Let us know and meet us in the comments.