During the holy season of Lent we unite as brothers and sisters in Christ from every time and place, generation with generation, in acts of fasting, prayer and almsgiving. Together we turn from sin to grace. Together we enter into Christ's suffering and death that we may also rise with Him. Lent is a particular time of penance, a particular time of conversion, and a particular time of grace. It reveals to us the beauty of being one united Church, united in suffering and united in our need for conversion. There is need for conversion in every time and every place, and in every generation. We are united in our longing for heaven, and we help one another to get there. We are sharers not only in Christ's, but in one another's sufferings. We "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep" (Romans 12:15). Lent calls us to reject selfishness in our relationship with God and in our relationship with others. It is a time to deny ourselves and return to the Lord, bringing our brothers and sisters with us. Let us bring the aged, the youth and the children before the Lord, and "rend our hearts, and not our clothing."
Lent is one of the "intense moments of the Church's penitential practice" (CCC 1438). It calls us to become more sensitive to the role of sin in our lives and its effects within our personal surroundings and our larger society and culture (Lent and Easter Wisdom from Fulton J. Sheen (Liguori, MO: Liguori Publications, 2004) ix). A major part of conversion, of turning away from sin and back to God includes some form of penance. Without penance we are unlikely to advance in holiness. Time and time again we hear Jesus say in the Gospel, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'" (Matthew 4:17). Through the holy season of Lent, we immerse ourselves into the death of Christ so that we may also rise with Him. By the grace of our Baptism we are moved everyday to immerse ourselves into this death and resurrection. "You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him." (cf. Col 2:12) Through the grace of our Baptism, we realize "the great mystery in which man dies to sin, is made a sharer in the new life of the Risen Christ and receives the same Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead (cf. Rom. 8:11). This free gift must always be rekindled in each one of us, and Lent offers us a path" (Message of His Holiness Benedict XVI for Lent 2011 [ML], 1)."Through the traditional practices of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer, which are an expression of our commitment to conversion, Lent teaches us how to live the love of Christ in an ever more radical way. Fasting, which can have various motivations, takes on a profoundly religious significance for the Christian: by rendering our table poorer, we learn to overcome selfishness in order to live in the logic of gift and love; by bearing some form of deprivation - and not just what is in excess - we learn to look away from our "ego", to discover Someone close to use and to recognize God in the face of so many brothers and sisters. For Christians, fasting, far from being depressing, opens us ever more to God and to the needs of others, thus allowing love of God to become also love of our neighbor (cf. Mk.12:31)" (ML, 3). Fasting teaches us to be blessed by the cross, and not weighed down by it. Almsgiving is another practice that reminds us "of God's primacy and turns our attention towards others, so that we may rediscover how good our Father is, and receive his mercy" (ML, 3). It reminds us to be detached from the things of this world and that none of the goods of this world are permanent. We must build up our lives with things that will last, with love and mercy. It reminds us of our suffering brothers and sisters and it moves us to show them mercy. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" (Matthew 5: 7). "In our journey, we are often faced with the temptation of accumulating the love of money that undermine God's primacy in our lives. The greed of possession leads to violence, exploitation and death; for this, the Church, especially during the Lenten period, reminds us to practice almsgiving - which is the capacity to share. The idolatry of goods, on the other hand, not only causes us to drift away from others, but divests man, making him unhappy, deceiving him, deluding him without fulfilling its promises, since it puts materialistic goods in the place of God, the only source of life. How can we understand God's paternal goodness, if our heart is full of egoism and out own projects, deceiving us that our future is guaranteed?" (ML, 3). Taking Lent as a time to focus on prayer brings us to the heart of conversion in every generation. It "is the encounter of God's thirst with ours" (CCC 2560). Prayer is the foundation of our relationship with God, and this relationship affects all of our relationships. Every relationship we have is an extension of and a part of our relationship with God. If we do not know how to love and communicate with God, how do we know how to love and communicate with others? "During the entire Lenten period, the Church offers us God's Word with particular abundance. By meditation and internalizing the Word in order to live it every day, we learn a precious and irreplaceable form of prayer...When we pray, we find time for God, to understand that his "words will not pass away" (cd. Mk 13:31), to enter into that intimate communion with Him "that no one shall take away from you" (Jn 16:22), opening us to the hope that does not disappoint, eternal life" (ML, 3).
Rejection of selfishness is essential to our on-going conversion and our unity as the body of Christ. Let us be "moved to free our hearts every day from the burden of material things, from a self-centered relationship with the 'world' that impoverishes us and prevents us from being available and open to God and our neighbor" (ML, 3). This Lent, let us offer to God a fuller and more generous giving of ourselves to Him. Let us "contemplate the Mystery of the Cross...so as to effect a deep conversion in our lives..." (ML, 3). Let us overcome the instinct to dominate others and open ourselves to the love of Christ (ML, 3). Let us come together, the weak, the strong, the hurting, the rejoicing, the aged and the youth, becoming a generation with one voice, crying, "Spare your people, O Lord" (Joel 2:17).
Written by Kristen, Special Events Coordinator for the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm
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