LENT: Time to begin again advises Offaly influencer

The season of Lent which just began this week, the 40 day period leading up to Easter, is my favourite season of the church calendar. I have many reasons for this. First, who doesn’t love the lengthening of the days, shoots of new life springing up all around us and the warmer temperatures of Springtime?

Also Lent is a season I view as an opportunity to renew our spirits as we move through the natural rhythms of the year, from the hibernation of Winter to the life awakening all around us of Spring. In the same way that we anticipate the earth’s awakening once more as new life strains to burst forth from the ground, we can also take steps to cultivate the growth of our souls and lifegiving spirits.

If Easter is the beautiful Spring flowers opening up in full bloom, then Lent is the seeds actively germinating just before the buds push up from where they have been carefully planted in the ground. They are no longer hibernating, but they require the right soil, temperature, adequate moisture and an increase in oxygen if they are to flourish fully into a mature plants. In a like manner, Lent can afford us an occasion to nurture new life in our spirits and souls.

What is Lent for me

For me Lent is a time to take a good, long look in the mirror and come to terms with what’s working about our lives and what’s not. It’s time for a change of heart. We all need a conversion experience in our lives. We all need to come to terms with the ways that our brokenness and selfishness and small-mindedness diminish our relationships with one another and especially with our God. Lent is a time to reach for something more, together and to discover that God is reaching back. Lent is a new beginning, a path towards continual conversion of our hearts.

Jesus revealed to his disciples the deepest meaning of his mission when he told them of his passion, death and resurrection, in fulfilment of the Father’s will. He then called the disciples to share in this mission for the salvation of the world. In our Lenten journey towards Easter, let us remember the One who “humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). During this season of conversion, let us renew our faith, draw from the “living water” of hope, and receive with open hearts the love of God, who makes us brothers and sisters in Christ.

Traditionally Lent is a season of penance, repentance, and preparation for Easter. A season of fasting, giving alms, and remembering what Jesus did leading up to his crucifixion. These three disciplines, in particular, have proven to be effective in helping us renew our relationships: Fasting sharpens our will and helps us evaluate things we might be attached to in an unhealthy way; almsgiving, or service and charity, opens our eyes to those in need; and prayer deepens our relationship with God. The heart of Lent is an invitation to reflect on what matters most, to find beauty in simplicity, and to encounter the love of God in our brokenness and to begin again.

When we allow ourselves to be filled to the brim with God’s lavish love, that love spills over beyond ourselves; like water, it rushes and flows, touching everything in its path. Lent for me is a time to struggle with our selfishness. A time to struggle with our lack-lustre performance on many fronts, a time to improve. A time to struggle with insensitivity in our dealings with family, with colleagues, with friends. A time to struggle with attitudes that are negative. A time to struggle against our compulsions to eat too much, to drink, to smoke, to waste time, to talk too much, to talk too little. A time to struggle with the things that knock us off the path of friendship with God. A time to struggle to be more of what we might be. A time to struggle to live our life on a new loving faithfilled level. A time for new timetables and good resolutions. Jesus struggled. An inner struggle, inner turmoil, inner distress. The kind of struggle that drives people mad. Or the kind of struggle that makes saints. So if you can this Lent, Give up complaining and focus on gratitude. Give up pessimism and become an optimist. Give up harsh judgments and think kindly thoughts. Give up worry and trust Divine Providence. Give up discouragement and be full of hope. Give up bitterness and turn to forgiveness. Give up hatred and return good for evil. Give up negativism and be positive. Give up anger and be more patient. Give up pettiness and become mature. Give up gloom and enjoy the beauty that is all around you. Give up jealousy and pray for trust. Give up gossiping and control your tongue. Give up sin and turn to virtue. Give up giving up and hang in there!

The Journey Inward
For me, beginning this Lenten journey is an examination of the heart.  I pray with the Psalmist, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Our Lenten journey is both a journey outward, as well as it is more importantly a journey inward. Yet, often during lent as in life, we fall into the category of Paul’s words in Romans 7, “The very good I would do I do not do.”  In short, we are more concerned about how we appear than about who we really are. In a way we have got used to being "counterfeit people" and wearing masks to prevent people seeing the real person behind one's mask. Let me illustrate with an old story from my Nana Scully's prayerbook.

"There is an old tale about three pious Christians who decided to travel to a distant city to spend the high holy days with a famous priest. They set out on their journey, without food or money, intending to walk the entire way. Several days into the journey, weak from hunger and still a long way from their destination, they knew they had made a mistake and they must do something. They came up with a plan. They decided that one of them would disguise himself as a priest. That way, when they came to the next village, the people would offer them food, honored to have a priest visit their town. None of the three, being pious, wished to be the deceitful one, so they drew straws, and the unlucky one who drew the short straw had to don the clothing of a priest. Another dressed as his assistant. When they drew near to the next village, they were greeted with excited cries of joy, “A priest is coming! A priest is coming!”

Escorted with great ceremony to the local inn, the hungry threesome was treated to a delicious meal. When the meal was done, however, the innkeeper approached the “priest” and spoke with great sorrow. “Father, you must pray for my son,” he said. “He is dying and the doctors have given up hope. But the Holy One, blessed be his name, may respond to our prayers.” The counterfeit priest looked desperately to his friends for help. They motioned for him to go with the innkeeper to his son’s bedside. They had begun this hypocritical game, and now there was no choice but to keep on playing the game. They accompanied the distraught father to his son’s sick bed. That night, the three travelers slept fitfully.

They were eager to get out of town before their deception was discovered. In the morning, the innkeeper, still hoping for a miracle and grateful for the prayer of this visiting “priest,” sent the party off with the loan of a carriage and a team of horses. They left the village and traveled to the great city where they spent magnificent holy days under the spell of the famous priest. His teaching of the Bible carried their spirits to the very vault of heaven. But too soon, the holy days were at an end, and the three companions had to go back home through the same village to return the borrowed carriage and horses.

Terrified, the counterfeit priest resumed his disguise; his heart was in his throat as they approached the village, especially when he saw the innkeeper running toward them, waving his arms furiously. But to the pretender’s delight and surprise, the innkeeper embraced him with joy, exclaiming, “Thank you. Only one hour after you left our village, my son arose from his bed well and strong. The doctors were amazed, but my son lives, and I am grateful for your faithful prayer.” The two companions looked with astonishment at their phony “priest” companion. What had happened? Had his prayer healed the boy? Was he truly a priest or holy man all along, without telling them? When they were alone, they turned on him with their questions. “What had he done at the boy’s death bed?” they demanded to know.

He replied that he had stood at the boy’s side in silence and then began to lift his thought to heaven: “God of the universe, please; this father and son should not be punished because they think I am a holy man. What am I? I am nothing! A pretender! If this child dies, his father will think a priest can do nothing. So, God of the universe, not because of me, but because of his father and his faith, can it hurt that his son would be healed?”
I tell this story now because of its profound insight into all of us. We are all pretenders and counterfeiters at times, falling a long way short of what God desires for and of us. My prayer for myself and for you is that this Lenten season, we remove the masks or counterfeit appearances we hide behind. Take the inward, forgiving, healing, cleansing journey and allow God’s gracious, merciful, and redemptive work to begin in us. So that by Easter Sunday, God will have renewed our spirits by the transforming of our minds and souls. For Lent is this special time to enter into the deserts and wildernesses of our hearts and souls where Jesus waits to encounter us. It is a special time to be with the Lord, to grow deeper in love with Him, and to grow deeper in love with one another. Lent is a time to begin again and to prepare to renew our baptismal promises, to prepare to say ‘Yes’ to God once again.

Thought for the week
As your thought for the week, remember that Lent is a grace-filled time when we can look at our lives in relation to God, to others and to ourselves. Lent is a journey that involves our whole life, our entire being and it is a time to return to God. It is a time to reconsider the path we are taking, to find the route that leads us home and to rediscover our profound relationship with God, on whom everything depends. Lent is not just not about the little sacrifices we make, but about discerning where our hearts and souls are directed. Lets always make them directed towards God with the help of this Lenten prayer that is a great help to me on my journey through Lent and beyond.

"God, heavenly Father, look upon me and hear my prayer during this holy Season of Lent. By the good works You inspire, help me to discipline my body and to be renewed in spirit. Without You I can do nothing. By Your Spirit help me to know what is right and to be eager in doing Your will. Teach me to find new life through penance. Keep me from sin, and help me live by Your commandment of love. God of love, bring me back to You. Send Your Spirit to make me strong in faith and active in good works. May my acts of penance bring me Your forgiveness, open my heart to Your love, and prepare me for the coming feast of the Resurrection of Jesus. Lord, during this Lenten Season, nourish me with Your Word of life and make me one with You in love and prayer. Fill my heart with Your love and keep me faithful to the Gospel of Christ. Give me the grace to rise above my human weakness. Give me new life by Your Sacraments, especially the Mass. Father, our source of life, I reach out with joy to grasp Your hand; let me walk more readily in Your ways. Guide me in Your gentle mercy, for left to myself I cannot do Your Will. Father of love, source of all blessings, help me to pass from my old life of sin to the new life of grace. Prepare me for the glory of Your Kingdom. I ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever. Amen.