By Leon Bent –
Like Advent, Lent is a time to open the doors of our hearts a little wider and understand our Lord a little deeper, so that, when Good Friday and eventually Easter comes, it is not just another day at Church, but an opportunity to receive the overflowing of graces God has to offer.
Lent is more frequently seen as a time of solemn observance and preparation for the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus at Easter. “From its start on Ash Wednesday until its conclusion on Easter Sunday, Lent has been a traditional time for fasting or giving something up or abstinence. Just as we carefully prepare for events in our personal lives, as a wedding, or birthday; a commencement Lent invites us to make our minds and hearts ready for remembering Jesus’ life, death, and body resurrection.”
Lent is a Christian annual period that starts on Ash Wednesday lasting for 40 days (not including Sundays) representing the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness. This 40 day period for Christians is a time to reflect, fast, and give penance in preparation for the resurrection of Christ Easter Sunday.
Lent is an intensely penitential time as we examine our sinful natures and return to the God we have, through our own rebelliousness, hurt time and again. Lent is also an opportunity to contemplate what our Lord really did for us on the Cross – and it wasn’t pretty. But ultimately, the purpose of Lent does not stop at sadness and despair – it points us to the hope of the Resurrection and the day when every tear will be dried (Rev. 21:4).
It is a great annual retreat for the Church. God will be at work in us, changing us, transforming us. Sometimes we resist change, but the Bible is clear: God continually calls each of us to become a new person “in Christ.” May Lent be a day-by-day grace that opens up God’s love for us and our love for others. Then, we will be able to look back at Lent, and ourselves, and see how God has helped us grow in faith, hope and love.
During the Lenten Season, God calls us to discipleship. It means to follow Jesus to the strangest places, to mountain-tops, into deserts, towards God’s kingdom, and deep within our own souls. The only way to respond is to obey God’s command to “listen to him,” to Jesus. Hearing Jesus’ Word is where disciples truly find God.
Lent is a time when Jesus calls us to repent and believe in the Gospel. To use Isaiah’s words: “Come, now, let us set things right.” Our hope should be in God, not in bank accounts, not in handbags, securities and property. Jeremiah asks us to trust in God. This is exactly what the beggar in the Gospel parable had to do. He could not trust in people, certainly not in the rich man. The poor Lazarus who begged for food teaches us a blunt lesson: In the Kingdom of God everything will be reversed.
Return to the Lord! This is how Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Jesus spoke. All the Lenten Readings circle around a central theme: Return to the Lord! Lent is a penitential season, even more so than Advent. The 40 days are set aside to really examine areas of recurring sin in our lives that prevent us from being conformed to God’s Will. The Sacrament of Reconciliation or ‘The Sacrament of Confession’, is highly recommended for internal cleansing and outward Transfiguration.
When I look into the eyes of our suffering God, I’m in awe – suddenly the complexity of our Lord, the love of our Lord, the humanity of our Lord shows through. I realize God is not just some nebulous energy source or a grandfather sitting in the clouds – He is so much more. The Cross is where our faith stands when all other faiths fail. Christ’s sacrifice and his subsequent resurrection are the true “cruxes” of the Christian faith. Without one there would be no salvation, without the other, no hope. This is why Good Friday and the following Easter Sunday are the most important dates in the Christian calendar – even more so than Christmas.
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.