As we are at the midpoint of Lent I thought that it might be a good idea to pause for a moment to see how our observance of the season is going. Lent is the tine when we give up things that we enjoy and take up the opportunity to do the spiritual things that we wouldn’t normally be doing. As our lives become busier, there is the danger that the voice of the Lord gets drowned out. Even in Jesus’ own time, it was easy to become distracted by the cares and duties of everyday life as the episode of Martha and Mary shows. As an antidote to the hustle and bustle of our daily existence, Jesus invites us during Lent to “come away by ourselves and rest a while” (Mark 6:31). In the early centuries of the Church, many men and women accepted this invitation quite literally and withdrew to a solitary life in the deserts of Egypt and Syria. From this began the Christian monastic tradition. There are many disciplines and practices such as fasting prayer and alms giving that we can all undertake to help us live this season of renewal. St Jerome Said that when the stomach is full it is easy to talk of fasting.’ How true these words are.
Self-denial does not come naturally. To deny ourselves anything kicks against the grain. During Lent we are invited to take up three observances; prayer, fasting and almsgiving (giving to charity). These things are not ends in themselves but rather disciplines which bring us closer to God. They involve us in dying to ourselves and living for God and others. They involve having to turn away from self and turn to God. They are signs of our love for God. Our Lenten observance is done so that we may grow closer to the Lord. During these 40 days we are on a spiritual journey. Our focus tends to be on the external – what we do, and what people think of us as we do it. God however sees our hearts (1 Samuel 16:7). We know that our hearts can be deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9) and can easily be drawn away from the good, the true and the beautiful. Lent, is the journey into the gentle and humble heart of Jesus who gave his life as a ransom for many. Our treasure is where our heart is and we store up true treasure when we carve out time for prayer, for reading scripture celebration of the Eucharist, and confession and all the other spiritual things that we are asked to do during Lent then we will be able to celebrate Holy week and Easter with renewed heart mind and spirit.
Fullerton T 