Lent offers us all a very special opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and to deepen our commitment to a way of life, rooted in our baptism. In our busy world, Lent provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our daily patterns and routines, to pray more deeply, experience sorrow for what we’ve done and failed to do, and to be generous to those in need.
“Lent comes providentially to reawaken us, to shake us from our lethargy,” Pope Francis has observed. It is an invitation to a journey like Jesus’ journey into the wilderness for forty days, where he endured temptations and prepared himself to begin his ministry. Lent is not for the faint of heart, but for many of us, the timing couldn’t be better.
We are living in a busy world where it is often so hard to grab some time for ourselves. Just when we are feeling untethered and adrift, Lent invites us to a few precious weeks of self-examination and reflection and offers us the tools – simple living, prayer, and fasting – to grow closer to God.
The journey of Lent can be tough – a time of repentance, of giving up things that tie us down and looking instead to the life and teachings of Jesus. But when we courageously examine from within, name what is broken within us, turn away from it, and turn toward what is truly good, we soon find ourselves living the fullness of life that God wants for each of us.
Finding a little more time for prayer and Meditating upon the inspiring words of the sacred scriptures is a wonderful way to enrich our Lenten journey. And where does that journey lead us? It leads us of course to Good Friday and Easter Sunday and the Greatest Gift of all – Jesus, Our Saviour, and his selfless love for us upon the Cross which opens the door for all who follow him to the happiness of eternal life.