A time for the vigil

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

Today is Holy Wednesday, the day when the recollection and commemoration of the agony, humiliation, crucifixion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ by all Christians all over the world begins to climax.

Churches will hold ceremonies and other rituals that will all be reminders of what the Son of God had suffered in order to ensure our salvation, and the next two days will continue to emphasize that to help us realize what we Christians must be thankful for.

All these we can do by participating to our fullest capacities in the ceremonies being observed by our churches, and by demonstrating our sincerity in doing so, by avoiding the pleasures we look for in ordinary days. There is so little being asked of us as we observe these holy days, that we should not find excuses to avoid them.

It is regrettable that, as the years have gone on, many Christians have been forgetting about the traditional practices their ancestors and elders had tried to pass on to them. Among these are the avoidance of activities that please the senses and the preference for company that can bring enjoyment without heed for the holiness of the days. It is disappointing to note how some of us, especially the youth, look forward to this week only as days free from work or studies, and a time for planning joyful gatherings like picnics, tours to popular places and spending days at resorts where little attention is given to these holy days and only commercialism is focused on.

Let us recall what our elders have inculcated in us about the holiness of these coming days. Surely it cannot be a big sacrifice to devote them to our faith, and to spend them in recollection and repentance, as well as in prayer for our country, and for the world.

Keep the essence of Holy Week alive, because they are the days we are supposed to be on vigil for the death of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.*