By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
Don’t consider that a strange wish! Lent is meant to be a happy season: it is no season of mourning, but a happy season of a return to home, from all the wandering. If this season has to move towards a fruitful direction, then we have to heed to the four fold call that Lent has…
LISTEN to the Word: the first call is to listen to the Word. Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, says the Lord. We have to make it a habit of listening to the Word of the Lord on a daily basis. Lent can be a training, a tuning into that habit.
ENCOUNTER the Lord: In the Word, in the daily events, in the people whom we meet, in the people whom we don’t like to meet, in those whom we avoid on purpose, we are called to encounter the Lord. An encounter is more than just a coming across; it is bouncing into someone, beholding the person in all entirety and building up a positive loving relationship!
NURTURE relationships: We believe that Lord Our God is fundamentally a unity of three persons. The season invites us to come in touch with the Lord, through various means -to nurture the relationships that we have received from the Lord. By the very image and likeness we bear and by the gift we have received at our baptism, we are called to be people who value and treasure relationships, with God and with others.
TRANSFORM yourself: The ultimate call is transformation. Conversion, Repentance, Return, Reconcile, Change… we would hear these words more often these days. The Lord invites us to pass through this period of reflection and self evaluation, that we may come out with concrete plans of action that would transform our lives.
May this lent be a blessed moment of Listening to the Word, Encountering the Lord on a daily basis, Nurture our relationship with the Lord and Transform our lives into those which become lovely offerings in the presence of the Lord. May these weeks of prayer and spiritual practices, mould and transform us into more convinced children of God.
Happy Lent!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him on.