The Season of Lent

Like many, I am a fan of Fridays.  End of the week.  Get to take stock of what got accomplished all week.  Get to look forward to a break from the routine of Monday through Friday.  Get to enjoy the beginning of the weekend.  Hanging with friends.  All week long, a 1966 hit from the Easybeats runs through my head…yes, indeed – I got Friday on My Mind.

But every year around this time, my view of Friday changes.  Look at the calendar.  As Catholics, today we celebrate Mass on Ash Wednesday and officially enter the season of Lent.  And you know what that means for Friday – lots of fish; lots of cheese.  I gotta tell ya, I have never been a big fish fan.  And a guy can only take so much cheese.  So I find myself “sacrificing” during Lent.  No burgers.  No cheesesteaks.  No hoagies. No meatballs. No chicken.  On Friday.  What a pity.  But really, how much of a sacrifice is it?  And when it comes down to it, how much is any “sacrifice” that falls into the category of “I’m giving this up for Lent?”

We give up candy or soda for 40 days.  Big deal.  We know we can have it for the other 325.  We invent rules like, “Sundays don’t count and traveling doesn’t count” as ways to “get around” the sacrifice. “What kind of discipline is that?”  It’s sad, really that we can’t make it 40 days.  And what if we “make it all the way through Lent” without straying from our “sacrifice?”  Do we see that as a personal achievement or do we see it as self-denial – the kind of self-denial that reminds us that life is not all about us?  When we compare our 40 days of “giving up,” to the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert and to his being nailed to a cross, it really doesn’t seem like such a big deal at all.

So as I do every year at this time, I want to challenge all of us to get beyond the usual “giving things up” for Lent because quite frankly that approach is short-lived.

I’m not against the “give up for Lent” practice but I see Lent as an opportunity for so much more.  While we should realize that abstinence and penance have a place in Lent, this season is way more than going without.  It is a time for conversion – a long term change of heart and mind.  In Lent we can take stock of the way we live our lives and how that compares to the model we have been given - our Lord, Jesus Christ.  In Lent our God has given us another chance to “get it right.” 

But where do we start?  As a sinner, some days it seems to me that there is just so much to “get right.”  And like most long-term projects, we can become paralyzed trying to figure out how to begin.  Well, how about this.  Let’s start with relationships.  And more specifically, let’s start with broken ones or wounded ones – those relationships with family, friends, students, teachers and others which fall apart because of something done, something said, or simply a misunderstanding.  Just maybe, Lent can be a time to repair and heal those relationships into the kind that Christ modeled for us.  Have we hurt someone with our words or actions?  Have we justified that they “deserved it?”  Maybe it’s time to say, “I’m sorry.”  Let’s not cop out by saying, “It’s been so long, I’m sure they’re over it by now.”  How do we know?  Maybe it’s too hard to say it face to face.  Start with a note – a sincere note that expresses the sorrow we feel for the hurt we’ve caused.  And just as important when healing relationships is the willingness to say, “I forgive you.”  Even Jesus, who died on a Cross, forgave those who put him there.  And remember, it wasn’t just the Romans who put him there.  Our sins are every bit responsible.  Surely we can forgive those who have done less.  Sound weird to say those exact words?  Then let’s start by letting go of that grudge we’ve held for so long.  Let’s talk again.  Let’s be respectful again.  Imagine a family where building the relationships was more important that being right.  Imagine a school where people followed the same philosophy.  Imagine a world like that.

And the true measure of our conversion is the long-term effect it has.  If we apologize and forgive now but tomorrow hurt again or create a new grudge to hold, what have we accomplished?  Lent, is as much about persistence as it is sacrifice.  It’s about continually striving to live a life committed to Christ.  It’s about trying, failing and trying again.  The message is simple.  We don’t let up when things are tough.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  Lent is not something to get through.  It’s not something to tolerate.  It’s not something to manipulate.  It is a time for soul-searching.  It is a time to determine what’s really important.  It’s a time to commit ourselves to change – a change in our hearts that makes a difference in the lives of others. 

We all look forward to Easter and the joy the day brings.  We should also look forward to the impact of Easter and the everlasting life that the Resurrection brings.  And just as there can be no Easter without Lent, there can be no Resurrection without the Cross.  What load are we willing to bear?

May all of us find on Easter Sunday that the conversion that brings us closer to the lives our Lord Jesus Christ has in mind for all of us.