Lent, a season of penance, reflection, and renewal in the Christian tradition, holds a profound relevance even in modern times. This 40-day observance leading up to Easter serves as a sacred reminder of Jesus Christ’s ultimate sacrifice for humanity. Despite the hustle and bustle of contemporary life, Lent invites people to pause, reflect, and reconnect with their faith, offering a message of love, hope, and redemption that transcends time.
In the fast-paced, technology-driven world of today, Lent resonates deeply as a counterbalance to the distractions and superficiality of modern life. Its emphasis on fasting, prayer, and almsgiving encourages individuals to detach themselves from material possessions and worldly pursuits, redirecting their focus toward spiritual growth and selflessness. This season challenges people to reevaluate their priorities, rediscovering the values of humility, gratitude, and compassion in a world that often celebrates excess and individualism.

Central to the observance of Lent is the realization of Jesus Christ’s boundless love for humanity. Through acts of sacrifice and self-denial, believers are reminded of the immense love that led Jesus to give His life for the salvation of all. The suffering and crucifixion of Christ become a source of inspiration, teaching that love is not merely an emotion but a profound act of self-giving. In a time when divisions and conflicts often dominate the global narrative, the Lenten message of sacrificial love serves as a beacon of hope and reconciliation.

Moreover, Lent fosters a sense of shared humanity, as believers around the world come together in their journey of faith. The communal aspects of Lent—such as participating in Ash Wednesday services, Stations of the Cross, and Holy Week observances—remind individuals of their interconnectedness and the strength found in collective worship and reflection. This unity transcends boundaries of culture and geography, emphasizing the universal nature of Christ’s message of love and sacrifice.

Through the lens of Lent, modern individuals are encouraged to see beyond their struggles and challenges, finding solace in the knowledge that they are deeply loved by a Savior who was willing to endure immense suffering for their sake. This realization fosters a sense of purpose and renewal, inspiring believers to carry this love forward through acts of kindness and service to others.

In conclusion, Lent’s relevance in modern times lies in its timeless message of love, sacrifice, and redemption. It offers a transformative journey that reminds people of the depth of Jesus’ love and His willingness to give everything for humanity’s sake. By embracing the spirit of Lent, individuals are empowered to live with greater compassion, humility, and faith, reflecting the light of Christ in a world that yearns for hope and meaning..

Exposing the daftness of the highest paid international lawyer defending the former and now detained president, Nicholas Kaufman who is reportedly a British-Israeli barrister by positing to limit the participants from the victims of his self-confessed client. In an effort to keep the surviving families of the bloody war on drugs that his client admittedly ordered if not masterminded, he raised the tactic of silencing the agonizing cries of the families left orphaned by the innocent victims of the bloody war on drugs. The weird idea is to purportedly simplify the proceedings by excluding family members of those innocent victims who could not present a valid identification card.

The proposal was immediately met with objections from the affected families and legal minds who care for the affected families. The main opposition was grounded on the fact that most of the victims’ families have no identification cards considering that the belong to the poorest of the poor. He mayhap not been informed by his high-profile client that government identification cards had not been issued to many poor citizens considering the cost of getting one and the fact that they seldom need such cards. It is impractical for a poor citizen to get an identification card when all their life are spent working in the fields, not even needing to go to town centers to buy for their daily needs.

The news in national broadsheets about a Filipino international lawyer accredited by the International Criminal Court (ICC) by giving the high-priced international lawyer of the former and now detained president a free lecture on realities in the country’s social and cultural situation is commendable. It explicated the situation in the country where the poorest of the poor opt rice than any identification card which has no use in buying items in the market. Indeed, why would one bother spending time and money to procure an identification card. For people living in the lowest economic strata, food is the be all and end all for the family.

Limiting the participants from the surviving families of the is a desperate strategy the defense lawyer of the former and now detained president can raise at the moment. It would bring the to fore the utter failure of his high-profile client. It is well to remind the highly-paid international lawyer that Republic Act No. 11055, or the Philippine Identification System Act, was signed by former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on 06 August 2018.

That national identification card may not have reached the poorest of the poor for reasons only the recipients can explain. With much more reason that the other identification documents such as driver’s license, passport or unified multi-purpose identification (UMID) can the survivors of the victims of the bloody drug war could not have. The highly-paid international lawyer badly needs ayde.

comments to alellema@yahoo.com

WITH the celebration of Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord’s Passion, we begin the Holy Week of our liturgical calendar, the most important week of the year that commemorates the culmination of the redemptive mission of our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s on this day that we are told how Christ went to the extreme of love by offering his life on the cross as a ransom for all our sins.

Let us hope that we can give time and due effort to meditate on this most important part of Christ’s life here on earth with the view of at least approaching this extreme of love to which we are also called.

As we can gather from the life of Christ, he, being God, not only became man to be with us, but also did everything to make things right for us, giving us the fullness of revelation about us. And since that was not enough due to our sinfulness, he went all the way to offering his life on the cross. (cfr. Phil 2,6-11)

To follow his example is the greatest challenge we have to tackle in this life. We may not be able to perfectly imitate him, but at least we should make the effort to pursue that ideal meant for us.

In this regard, we have to realize that given our wounded condition, the cross, in any of its forms, will always be an integral, if not essential, part in this pursuit for love. We need to understand that unless we love the cross the way Christ loved it, we can never say that we are truly loving, or loving with the fullness of love.

We really need to know why the cross is essential and indispensable in our life. That’s because in the first place Christ himself said that to follow him, we need not only to deny ourselves but also to carry the cross daily. (cfr. Lk 9,23) We need to know the purpose of the cross because the cross, through Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, is where everything in our life is resolved.

Yes, Christ preached. He performed miracles. But in the end, he had to offer his life on the cross because no matter what he did, our sins are such that they simply cannot be undone and forgiven through the preaching of the truths of our faith and the tremendous effects of the miracles. Christ had to offer his life on the cross!

In our daily life when we can encounter cases of severe differences and conflicts among ourselves—for example, between husband and wife, parents and children, among friends and neighbors, etc.—we need to see to it that the more difficult the situation is, the more unfair and unjust the conditions are, the more we should follow the example of Christ who, treated in the worst way possible on earth, just offered his life for us.

That’s why he was more close to the sinners than to the self-righteous ones. Just the same, he loved all as proven by the fact that before dying on the cross, he asked forgiveness from his Father for those who crucified him.

We have to expand and deepen our attitudes towards others. Are we willing to think always of them, keenly observant of how they are? Are we moved to pray for them and to leap to their assistance when the chance comes? Do we try to go all the way in loving them, no matter how unfair to us things may look?

To be sure, only when we truly identify with Christ can we go also to the extreme of love.