So Easter is nearly upon us now and the shops are filled with.......chocolate. Is it just me or has Easter become almost as commercial as christmas? The first Cadburys Creme Egg (the number one confectionary sold during Easter no less) was out....wait for it....before Christmas.

So have we gone too far? Thinking about the next holy celebration even before we have one over and done with?

There has been a backlash in recent years about religious feasts becoming far too commercial and Easter seems to prove this. While the retailers seem to think it is ok to force their products on us in 'celebration' of Jesus rising from the dead on Easter Sunday, it is a tad ironic that we are mourning his death just 3 days earlier. 

So just where did this association with chocolate eggs and Easter start? And how has it taken over so quickly? It makes me feel old just to look in the shops at the Easter decorations and I'm still a student! The Easter Bunny phenonomon also seems to have spiraled out of control, the shops are full of cutesy little Spring animals, all in shades of pastel, inviting us to buy them as 'Spring is here! Winter is over! It's time for Easter!'

But is this too far, would our Lord approve of this farcical celebration of Spring, which has pagan connotations by the way. 

Just how many children care about the celebration of Easter? It is supposed to be a day of celebration for the rising of Jesus, who died for our sins. Yet there is no sign of this in any of the shops around Dublin City. How are kids supposed to associate Jesus and Easter when all they see around them are bunnies and baby chicks.