It’s Lent, Again!?

Many may have thus sighed while others may not have enunciated it but felt it within themselves. ‘Lent has come again?’ The season of Lent is looked on and entered into with ambivalent feelings. The fact that it comes every year around the same time (February-March-April) doesn’t help to reduce the ambivalence; rather it seemingly reserves it for this period. The obvious question is: Why does Lent provoke ambivalent feelings within us? One, and perhaps the most primary reason is the association of Lent to self-abnegation, fasting, abstinence and penance. These, because of their definition and practice, are looked upon as negative actions. But are they really so? Understanding the mind of the Church and the Catholic tradition in this regard is vital for clarifying and consequently developing a meaningful and coherent view.

The Church doesn’t prescribe self-abnegation, fasting, abstinence, almsgiving and penance to burden us and neither because it has traditionally been done. A perfunctory performance of these practices for the sake of being called a ‘good’ Christian is unhealthy and robs Lent of its meaning. Lent is meant to be a time of self-reflection, self-critique, openness to grace and the mercy of God, prayer and making reparation for our wrongdoings. To help us in these tasks, the Church in her wisdom encourages the faithful to undertake the abovementioned practices and to receive the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist. Once we understand that the Church has a good intention and reason(s) for encouraging the undertaking of these ‘negative’ practices, we have achieved the first step of change of attitude. The second step is joyfully embracing these practices and not restricting them to the Lenten season. When we look upon these practices positively and experience them as such, we will realize their potential for enhancing the spiritual life, nourishing faith and leading us to holiness.  

Lent, far from being a season of negativity is in fact, a season of positivity. We reflect on ‘negative’ material, not to get caught up and brood over it or to engage in self-pity or self-condemnation but to rid ourselves of it and fill the resulting space with positivity. The oft-repeated words in Lent are: sin, guilt, punishment. These are negatively charged. On the other hand, we also hear positively charged words like redemption, mercy and forgiveness. These latter words reflect the positive nature of Lent.

Lent is a time for us to experience more profoundly the redemption that Jesus’ death wrought – liberation from the bondage of sin. It’s a time to experience in a special way the mercy of God. This theme takes on a newer and brighter hue during this Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. It’s a time of forgiveness and must be both, received and given. All of these contribute to making Lent a season of hope – a hope grounded in the mercy of God made manifest in Jesus.

So, it’s true. Lent is here, again! Putting aside our ambivalent feelings and creating a positive consciousness is vital for ensuring a fruitful living out of this season. Let this Lenten season not be another period that we mechanically live through, going through the motions of penance, fasting, abstinence and almsgiving; rather let us ensure that it becomes a period of grace (as it is intended to be) by experiencing the positivity it brings with it and by opening ourselves to the transforming grace that God pours on us. Happy Lent!