Pinoy faith is said to be among the strongest in the world. That is true for both Islam and Christianity, the two dominant religions in the country. Ever since I was a boy, my parents would always take us on what is called the "Visita Iglesia" where we would go around various churches around the country and go through the stations of the cross. One station at each church stop until we got through all of them. I think there are 15 now as updated by the Vatican as opposed to the 13 when i was younger.
This year, we stayed in Metro Manila and went through several churches in the metropolis. I must say that it was very odd. I haven't done this with my family in years and there seemed to be a lot less people making the rounds than there were when I was younger. Then I thought of all the vacation spots here and abroad where most people probably went during these long holidays. Those places must be packed... I told myself in silence.
Times are changing. Then I thought of all the holidays throughout the year (Filipinos are very fond of long holidays) and noticed that just perhaps, because of the faster lifestyles people live today, we would rather make use of these traditionally religious occasions and get some time off from the world and de-stress or whatever it is that we do away from work. To be honest. I would have rather gone to Caliraya that day.
There was a time when I also wanted to go out of town during Lent. But my Mama has instilled in me that it is the season for contemplation - one's self and faith. Mama would be commenting, whenever she would see that Filipinos chose to flock the beaches during this season, that the meaning of Lent are lost in those people. So, ever since I was a kid, instead of treating Lent as some holiday where we can have fun, my family choose to spend time with together and go to Calvary, do the station of the cross, listen to the Seven Last Words and go to procession.
ReplyDeletecouldnt agree more, Optical Odyssey. That's exactly our family see Lent too.
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