Lent is that season of approximately forty days when Christians prepare themselves for a proper observance of the Lord’s sufferings, death and resurrection. In the Christian calendar, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on sundown of Holy Thursday. Lent is a season of preparation. It prepares Christians for the most solemn feast in Christendom – Easter. The forty days of Lent commemorate the forty days Jesus spent in the desert preparing himself for his public ministry. During this holy season, our liturgy is more solemn and has a penitential character. Musical instruments are reduced; elaborate celebrations are avoided.
The watchwords during this holy season of Lent are moderation and solitude. These remind us of the dispositions expected from us during this season – quiet and sober disposition. These help us to reflect and contemplate on the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ, and their salvific effects on us. At the Ash Wednesday’s Mass, ash was placed on the foreheads of the faithful. The ash is a sign of repentance which is the core message of Lent. It also reminds us of the nothingness of man. Hence, while placing the ash, the priest says, “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or “From dust you came and unto dust you shall return.” We also abstain from eating meat or any other thing so special to us during this season.
The essence of this is to inculcate the spirit of self denial and sacrifice during this holy season. The Lenten journey is marked in a special way by the three traditional dimensions of Lent namely, prayer, fasting and alms-giving otherwise known as the three pillars of Lent. During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture; we serve by giving alms; and we practice self-control through fasting. These we see explicitly in Matthew 6:1-18. During Lent, we are expected to intensify our prayer life. Through prayer, we make room for God in our life and we express our desire to enter into a deeper relationship with him. Daily morning Masses, daily Rosary, Stations of the Cross and praying with the Scripture are helpful in this season.
It is also important for us to set aside some time for personal prayer and meditation during this season and be faithful to it. We should remember that a ‘prayer-less Christian is a powerless Christian.’ Our prayer should be all inclusive. We should pray, especially for our country Nigeria as we pass through difficult time of hunger, economic hardship and bad leadership. We should pray for our leaders for a sense of purpose and a pole of direction. We should pray for the Church and her leaders for spiritual renewal in this holy season of Lent. Above all, we should pray for the grace of genuine and sincere repentance and reconciliation. Without repentance and reconciliation, there is no Lent.
Through fasting, we deny ourselves something in order to share it with others, especially the poor and the most abandoned. Through fasting too, we give more space to God in our life remembering that man cannot live by bread alone; that we need also the spiritual food of God’s word. Fasting can take different dimensions. It is not necessarily fasting from food. It could be fasting from any particular vice that one has been struggling with. It could be fasting from a particular addiction. According to the great Origen, “The best kind of fast is fasting from sin.”
Alms-giving which is the third pillar of Lent leads us to share with others what we have received from the Lord in a spirit of solidarity and communion. It is sharing with others what we have saved from our fast. This is apt, especially in this time of scarcity, hardship and hunger. Many Nigerians hardly eat one square meal a day. We are being called to share the little we have with those who have not. Christ gave up his life for our sake, we as Christians are being called in this holy season of Lent to give up something for the good of others. Remember, “whatever you do to the least of my brothers you do unto me” – Matthew 25:40. The core message of Lent is repentance and reconciliation.
Hence Prophet Joel calls us to tear our hearts not our clothes (Joel 2:13). We are battling with many vices which often weaken us both spiritually and physically. We are expected to present them before the cross of Jesus Christ as we journey with him in this holy season of Lent. No vice is beyond remedy. No sin is beyond the mercy of God. May God in his infinite mercy grant us a fruitful and spirit-filled Lenten season. May our sacrifices this season never be in vain.
• Rev. Fr. Lawrence Udochukwu Ekenze, CSsR Chaplain of CYON, Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Amuwo-Odofin
