Lent is chance to weigh God's place in our lives

Last week, at the outset of Lent, ashes were placed on our foreheads in the form of a cross, and these words from Mark, which constitute the theme of the Gospels, were spoken: "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel" (Mark 1:15).

The word "Gospel" means "good news," and the Good News is that God the Creator has loved us into being and made us in the divine image and likeness.

The Good News is that Jesus Christ, God's only begotten son, was born in time; lived among us for 33 years, teaching us how to live and love; and, by his suffering, death and resurrection, redeemed us from our sin and opened for us the way to life eternal.

The Good News is that, in returning to the Father, Jesus did not abandon us but sent forth His Spirit to dwell within us, serving as an inner source of wisdom, guidance and strength to enable us to live a supernatural life in the midst of the natural world in which we find ourselves.

Loving us

Yes, the Good News is that God is our Father, who loves us passionately; that Jesus is our brother and friend -- and not merely in the Spirit but in the flesh as well; and that the Spirit of Jesus continues to be the motivating, animating and sustaining influence for us on our own life's journey.

However, if we are to embrace the Good News and integrate it into our lives, we must continually be open to repentance and renewal by turning away from sinfulness and selfishness, and turning toward our God of love.

In other words, the Good News is always present to us, but we can turn it off, tone it down or ignore it altogether when we allow the ravages of sin to control our lives.

Sin and evil

There is no question that sin and evil abound all around us. We see it in the wars, violence, terrorism, torture and abuse of human rights in so many quarters of our globe. We see it in domestic violence...in human trafficking...in addiction to alcohol, drugs and gambling...in family breakdown and social neglect.

We see it in sins of the flesh: adultery, pornography, prostitution, child sexual abuse and casual sexual indulgence, at times leading to abortion. We see it in corporate greed and political corruption.

Closer to home, we see it in the ways in which we hold grudges, nurse resentments, cling to jealousy, and form cliques that exclude others based upon peer pressure, race, ethnicity, gender or social class.

We see it in the exclusion of God from our lives: by our arrogant independence, by our rebellious disobedience, and by our self-reliance rather than our reliance upon divine wisdom and guidance that are available to us in the Scriptures, in the Eucharist and in time set aside for personal prayer.

Lent's purpose

Lent is a time to take stock of our lives, to do a spiritual inventory, to look at ourselves through the mirror of Jesus' life and to recommit ourselves to follow the path of discipleship He has shown us: the path of taking up the cross daily and following Him.

The time-tested and track-proven ways to walk the journey of Lent from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday are prayer, fasting and almsgiving:

* Prayer -- whether it be attending Mass more frequently, reading and reflecting upon the Scriptures of the day, making the Stations of the Cross, reciting the Rosary or just putting ourselves in God's presence and conversing with Him as we would our most trusted friend -- reminds us that God has placed us here on earth for a purpose; that He has something unique and special in mind for us to do -- if only we would "let go and let God."

Prayer, in other words, provides a wonderful opportunity for us to unplug our fast-paced lives; to take time out "to be"; to truly listen and discover the divine in the events and relationships of our life; and to find God's will for us in this time and place.

* Fasting -- be it giving up a meal, desserts or snacks; refraining from watching a favorite TV show or playing a treasured video game; or spending less time at the mall or movie theater -- makes us more conscious of how self-centered we can easily become and enables us to be more conscious of the needs of others: family members, neighbors, friends, co-workers, schoolmates, and especially those within our world and society who lack such basic necessities of life as food, clothing, shelter, education, health care and job opportunities.

* The greater awareness of God's call in our life and our need to be less self-absorbed and more other-centered, which prayer and fasting enkindle within us, leads us to almsgiving: to share the resources saved from fasting or foregoing favorite pastimes with those who deserve our time, our talent and our treasure.

Lenten journey

The whole purpose of the Lenten journey upon which we have embarked, and of the Lenten practices of prayers, fasting and almsgiving is to learn more about Jesus, our brother, friend, Lord and Redeemer, as well as about the Father He revealed and the Spirit He promised.

It is to understand more fully what Christian discipleship is about, and how following in the footsteps of Jesus can be guided and sustained by the Scriptures, the sacraments, and the rituals, teachings and traditions of our Catholic Christian heritage. 

Lent is a journey from darkness to light...from sin to grace...from selfishness and self-centeredness to selflessness and other centeredness.

Lent is a journey that enlightens the mind, touches the heart, uplifts the spirit and culminates ultimately in the eternal embrace of that God in whose image and likeness we are made. 

In particular, Lent is a journey designed to help us avoid the pitfalls of the materialistic, consumeristic culture in which we find ourselves; a culture driven by money, by the fads and fashions of the moment, by the newest techniques and the "must-have" gadgets, by luxuries we don't need and bromides that feed the body but starve the soul.

Needs and wants

Lent and its disciplines help us learn how to distinguish needs from wants, and to live more simply and spiritually by feeding upon that Word of God and Bread of Life, which will never perish.

The Lenten journey also assists us to combat one of the great contemporary temptations, namely, to seek to control our own destiny; and to settle for pursuits that seem more safe and secure, that allow us to remain in our own comfort zone, that seek to protect us from risk and that blind us to what God may be asking of us.

Yes, one of today's greatest temptations is that of conformity and complacency; of refusing to shed our ways and take on new ones; of timidly following the paths of least resistance -- peer pressure and the status quo -- rather than surrendering ourselves to our unpredictable God, who is predictable only in the call to lead us from where we may have comfortably settled.

Counter-cultural

Finally, our Lenten journey helps us address the challenges of narcissism and individualism that permeate the contemporary milieu.

We live in a society that tells us repeatedly that fulfilling our own needs, wants and desires should be our number-one priority; it is a society where personal choice is the supreme value; where the Frank Sinatra ballad, "I Did It My Way," has become the national anthem; where the self reigns; where seeing other people as things to serve one's needs is the moral norm, let the chips fall where they may, be these the chips of abortion, adultery, pornography, corporate greed or political corruption; and where solidarity and the common good are replaced by the creed, "What's in it for me?"

These perennial temptations (and others that could be cited) are roadblocks on the journey of Christian discipleship. But Jesus' example, the Spirit He bequeathed us, and the Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving can enable us to recognize and avoid these pitfalls, and provide us with the spiritual resources we need to understand more fully what Christian discipleship entails and to live it to the full.

May we walk the road of Lent with a true commitment to repentance and conversion so that we can celebrate the great Easter feast with renewed minds, hearts and spirits.

May God bless you -- and have a great Lent!

(3/1/07) [[In-content Ad]]