I guess it’s fair to say I’m a little strange. (No comments from family and friends, please.) I actually love Lent, which begins in just a couple of weeks.
The word “Lent” comes from the word “spring,” and this year especially with Easter not until the end of April, we will see nature coming alive around us. I love Lent because it reminds me of where I, too, need to grow, improve and come alive in areas of my life that you would think an old priest like me would have figured out a long time ago.
With a couple of weeks until Lent starts, now is a great time to “prepare to prepare” – get ready for Lent to prepare us for Easter. We can think about how to spend Lent. The Church calls us in these 40 days to pull back a little bit from the regular busyness of our lives and to be more attentive to our journeys.
The Church is a pilgrim Church, and we are a pilgrim people. We are on a journey together. I think sometimes we forget or don’t realize how much what we do influences those around us. Our Lenten journey can impact not just ourselves but our families, friends and neighbors.
Many people who now go to Church every day have told me that the seeds were planted in past Lents when they tried to attend Mass more often than just Sundays. In fact, I recently said to one of my fellow priests that I think it all started in Lent for most people who attend Daily Mass.
Those bigger crowds at Daily Mass during Lent speak to others who are trying to do the same thing. We help each other by our example and inspire each other by our desire to live our faith and grow closer to Jesus.
The Church asks us to think about three major ways we can do that during Lent. We have our prayer, which is mostly in private. We have our penance/fasting, which is also supposed to be done without calling attention to ourselves. And we have almsgiving, sharing our blessings and making sure those less fortunate are taken care of.
Those Lenten practices are given to us by Jesus himself in the Gospel we read on Ash Wednesday (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18). They become our roadmap for the next 40 days.
Many of us give something up as a sacrifice, which is great. If you decide to do that, I encourage you to think about the true reasons for your sacrifice. We might feel good that we lost a few pounds, or that we gave up chocolate or alcohol during Lent. Those are all good things, but is it really about our health or is it about Jesus?
If you do any of those things, which I certainly applaud, think about what changes it might bring about in your relationship with a savior who sacrificed his very life so that we might live forever. Think about what changes it might bring about in the way you treat other people around you, love your neighbor, or look to those less fortunate.
Where are the three pillars of Lent – prayer, fasting and almsgiving – encouraging us to grow the way we live and celebrate our life each day? How can I use the beautiful readings of the season and stations of the cross to grow? Can I celebrate Mass more often than Sundays? How can I be an example to our young people about the importance of our Lenten sacrifice?
I understand that no one likes sacrifices. Most of us would rather keep our money for ourselves. In our always connected world, it’s hard to spend real quiet time with the Lord. Lent helps give us structure, discipline and motivation to journey with our fellow pilgrims. Lent becomes like our own spiritual exercise program to become healthier and stronger – if we commit to following the program.
That’s why I love Lent. May we all look forward to the opportunity to rejoice in the Lord’s presence and grow closer to Jesus. To love Jesus more and to receive his love. To talk to Jesus and listen to Jesus. And to let Jesus shine in our hearts and shine forth from our hearts.
(Msgr. John Enzler serves as the mission advocate of Catholic Charities of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and is a chaplain at his alma mater, St. John’s College High School in Washington. He writes the Faith in Action column for the archdiocese’s Catholic Standard and Spanish-language El Pregonero newspapers and websites.)
