Lent is Coming

Tomorrow begins the holy season of Lent, which is truly my favorite time of year.  No, I'm not a masochist; I find fasting and abstinence as much of a pain as the next person.  I like it because it's a time to refocus and delve into the mystery of Jesus' life in a unique way.  Jesus' suffering, death, resurrection and ascension (collectively known as the Paschal Mystery) are central to our faith, and the more we understand what they mean the better we live our faith. I have found it helpful to think of Lent as beginning a 90 observance that takes into account the Easter Triduum and Easter Season.  Faith in Christ is not only a matter of penance and self denial; it is also remembering why we deny ourselves.  Lent helps us detach ourselves from earthly things so we can be better disposed to accepting the heavenly gifts that God offers us.  During Easter we reflect on the resurrection, that this was not simply a display of God's power, but a prophetic act that points us to our own future.  We end that 90 day cycle with Pentecost, remembering that we have been given the gift of the Spirit that sanctifies us, but also impels us to spread the Good News of Jesus' victory over sin and death.

Before we can celebrate Christ's victory we must prepare.  As Jesus entered the desert for 40 days to prepare for his public ministry, we too must enter the desert to cleanse ourselves.  We think of Lenten practices most often in terms of punishment, the same is true for purgatory.  I'm not denying the punitive dimension of either reality, only that focusing purely on the temporal punishments for sins committed limits our appreciation for what the ascetic life is all about.  Ultimately it is about detaching ourselves from the love of material things, and love for our sins, so we can love God above all.

It might sound funny to talk about "loving" our sins, but the point is not just avoiding adultry, thievery, murder, gossip, envy, lust and so on, but developing the interior disposition that makes these and other vices truly repellent to us.  Think of the old movie, "Gone With The Wind."  At one point Rhett Butler correctly notes that his rival Ashley Wilkes may have never actually slept with Scarlet O'Hara, but it doesn't mean he didn't want to.  His interior desires are expressed by the mixed signals he gives to Scarlet's advances throughout the story. Advancing in the spiritual life is to eliminate the mixed signals, and mean yes when we say yes and no when we say no.  It means seeing the ugliness of our sins and, more importantly the beauty of the corresponding virtues.

We also need to detach ourselves from the love of material things.  The goal is to become indifferent to the presence of these things in our lives.  If we have them, fine; we use them, enjoy them but always understanding that everything is a gift, and all these things are of limited value.  If we don't have them then we don't worry about it; it's all the same.  As the Gospel from two Sundays ago reminded us God know our needs.  It's not that we are expected to live without food or shelter, but to understand that these are tools, if you will, that help us live here and serve God.  The higher things are the spiritual ones.  If our life is caught up in the pursuit of material things that don't last we will miss the Divine plan for us.  We will become obsessed with a world that simply doesn't last, and worse yet put these things ahead of God in our lives.

We give up things during Lent, yes to do penance for our sins.  But we also do it so we can clear away the clutter and put God first in our lives.  If we only see the particular sacrifices we make as something we do for 40 days and then return to our old ways once Easter comes we are missing the point.  Lent should be a springboard to repentance and a change of life that we carry through the entire year.

If we do not complete this detachment from sin and material things in this life, then we will complete it in purgatory.  Again, purgatory is not just about punishment, but about detachment as well.  If we put anything in our lives, be they by nature sinful or legitimate, ahead of our love of God and living His will in our lives this attachment will be burned away in purgatory.  That is if we seek God's forgiveness first, of course.

There are many more things we could say about this, and I will as Lent proceeds.