Extra masses, ashes on the forehead, fasting, and abstaining from meat on certain days are all aspects of the season of Lent. The older we practicing Catholics get, the more seasons of Lent we have lived through and gotten to know. Like anything that can fall into a habitual routine, Lent can become, in some ways, 40 days that we observe but don’t really experience with all its meaning and liberating oomph!
If we follow Jesus’ teachings in the Gospel of Luke (6:36-38) read at Mass today, we can get a good start on Lent 2024. Jesus prescribes being merciful, not judging, not condemning, forgiving, and giving gifts. If we can put into action those ideas, our Lent can be very peaceful and rewarding.
Ephesians 5:1-2 gives us important advice:
Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us
and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.
It would be a good idea to take time to examine carefully our relationships with other people. Is there anyone we avoid because of some bad feeling we harbor? Are we quick to lump certain people together and cast judgement on them as a group? Do we just write a person off because of some unexplained look he or she gave us? Do we get a bit possessive and stingy with our material things? Could we fast not only from food but also from little habits that get on a loved one’s nerves? Perhaps we could make a Lenten list of small sins that we have become lax about avoiding and try to check them off the list week by week. Can we make this Lent new and different personally?
Let’s pray with Psalm 25:4-7:
Your ways, O Lord, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior,
and for you I wait all the day.
Remember that your compassion, O Lord,
and your kindness are from of old.
The sins of my youth and my frailties
remember not;
in your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O Lord.
Attend an extra Mass sometime, abstain from a favorite fruit this week, pray with Sacred Scripture in a different room from where you normally pray, or at a different time of day. Say a kind greeting to someone you pass during your busy day, a person you do not usually greet. Be your created creative self! Have a new Lent!
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The photograph is by Crystal de Passillé-Chabot on Unsplash
Sharon Krause is a RENEW volunteer whose writing has appeared in several resources for small-group faith sharing. She is a wife, mother, and grandmother residing in Royal Palm Beach, Florida, Connecticut. Over the years, she has served in many parish ministries.