With Ash Wednesday, the Season of Lent begins. It lasts for 40 days (excluding Sundays) until Holy Saturday.
It recalls the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert before He began his public ministry. It recalls also the 40 days that Moses spent on Mt Sinai when he was given the Ten Commandments, and the 40 years the Israelites spent in the desert under Moses on their journey to the Promised Land.
With all these scriptural links, Lent is connected with Jesus’ own penitential preparation for His public ministry. Today, penance helps us prepare for Easter, the commemoration of Jesus rising from the dead, victorious over sin and death.
Oddly enough, Lent is welcomed by Catholic people despite its call to penance. Most see Lent as an opportunity to recapture the ideals of the Christian life which can easily be forgotten today.
Lent is a time of personal spiritual renewal. It is a time of restraint, a time of prayer and reflection to re-order one’s priorities, and to make changes that will place God first in our lives.
Jesus called for penance. He asked us to take up our cross daily and follow Him. He asked us to accept the reality of suffering, especially in the cause of right, assuring us that if we follow Him we will find that our burdens are light. Given the call of Jesus to walk in His way, let us then take this season of great grace seriously.
The Church asks three things of us in Lent – prayer, penance and almsgiving.
Prayer We must ask ourselves, then, if we truly pray, or, if we have neglected prayer, build it into our lives again. We can pray at home, each morning and evening. We can open our Bible for a few minutes and let it turn our hearts to prayer. Our Masses can be full of distraction. We might concentrate a little more to pray the Mass, enter into the mysteries of Jesus’ death and resurrection with thanksgiving and praise.
Penance We need not only obey the rather easy requirements of the Church about penance but develop a spirit of penance, accepting burdens laid on us with patience and trust and seek ways of changing those habits that injure us spiritually, like selfishness, spite, criticism of others and arrogance.
Almsgiving Personal generosity is a beautiful Christian virtue. Giving to others, especially the poor, not only helps in their need but purifies us from attachment to possessions as they can never satisfy our spiritual needs.
In his letter to us at this time of Lent, the Holy Father, Pope Benedict, speaks of the need for personal renewal.
I quote: “Conversion to Christ, believing in the Gospel, ultimately means this: to exit the illusion of self-sufficiency in order to discover and accept one’s own need – the need of others and God, the need of His forgiveness and His friendship.”
Let us seek to restore our true relationship with God this Lent by being obedient to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
May the prayers of Mary, Mother of our Saviour, accompany us on our Lenten journey.
+B J Hickey
NOTE: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fasting and abstinence.
The Church’s laws on fasting bind all aged 18 and over through to those beginning their 60th year. The Church calls the faithful to determine for themselves what is appropriate to give up during Lent.
The Church’s laws on abstinence asks those who have completed their 14th year and older to refrain from the consumption of meat on Fridays and Ash Wednesday.