Reflections For Lent

Its the last day at work today...everybody busy planning to go somewhere for the long weekend of lent...a lot of people are heading for the beaches...boracay...camiguin...puerto galera...mactan...nalusuan island...panglao...its vacation season this summer...well lent has evolve into something new...a time to take a break from work...study or whatever have you been doing...somehow in the process it has lost its true meaning of Lent for some people..it has become a time of enjoyment and celebration of life....I am not saying that everyboby should be pious about the whole thing...but culture has totally change the whole perception of things and events...During these times...the traditional way of celebrating Lent may have come to pass although there are still ways and means of celebrating lent...the way of the cross...the confession ...the visitation of the church...the re-enactment of the passion and suffering of Jesus...some events have already become a tourist attraction and have been developed as an activity for the purpose of being that...a tourist attraction...a festival or sort of well what could we do..its good for business....Lent has always been a time for contemplation and reflections...a time where we as christians go to religious retreats or seminars...to take a review or self inventory of ourselves...to compare our trials and difficulties with the sacrifices that Jesus had to make...To celebrate the true meaning of how He Died..he has risen...and the fulfillment of his promise to come back again...for all to have everlasting life with him in heaven...these are the core beliefs of our religion...some will celebrate it the way they see it...as a vacation...as a religious passage...or as a simple discernment of their lives...in celebration of Life...It is not for us to judge how to celebrate it...through all the confusion of our culture...for me it will always be my personal relationship with God that counts...