Lent, God’s Love Story for His Children

Lent is often associated with ‘giving something up’, but it is really a time of spiritual discipline, a time of preparation for the great feast of Easter. 

A disciple is one who learns from the master. Immediately after his baptism, Mark says that the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness/desert to be tempted by the devil. The desert represents times in our lives of struggle, disorientation, and painful experiences that make us vulnerable to temptation.  Lent offers a special opportunity of taking our woundedness to the divine physician for healing. 

We enter into the rhythm of lent beginning with Ash Wednesday.  

Jesus invites us to greater intimacy through 

Prayer – healing for ourselves and the world; 

Fasting – depriving self of physical comforts through discipline and growing trust in God. 

Almsgiving – sharing our resources generously with the poor. 

In the following five weeks, we journey with the gospel themes of repentance, mercy, forgiveness, as we build the Kingdom of God in preparation for Easter.  

Passion/Palm Sunday week, the holiest week of the Christian year focuses our attention on the sacred mysteries of:  

Holy Thursday: the Blessed Eucharist and the washing of the feet, 

Good Friday: the suffering and death of Jesus for the salvation of the world  

Easter Sunday: Jesus vanquishes death forever through love.  

Lent is a good time to begin or deepen the Lenten practices of prayer, discipline, and almsgiving.  Through these ascetic practices, we learn to nurture the silence within and come to experience joy and wellbeing. 

Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus. 

-Sister Ann Marshall, csj

A Lenten Reflection - The Third Sunday of Lent

There have been times in my life when the words of a song have reached deep into my being and touched my spirit in what I call holy moments of oneness with self, God and creation.  One such song is the Lenten hymn “We Rise Again from Ashes”.  I am particularly drawn to the Second Verse. 

We offer you our failures,

We offer you attempts,

The gifts not fully given,

The dreams not fully dreamt.

Give our stumblings direction,

Give our visions wider view,

An offering of ashes, an offering to you.

In a reflection written by Father Ron Rolheiser he states that more people go to church on Ash Wednesday than on any other day of the year.  Why?  As a symbol, they are blunt, and speak the language of the soul.  Something inside each of us knows why receiving the Ashes means so much “Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return.”

As I reflect upon the ashes I will receive this Lent, I will be reminded of human frailty that keeps me from being open to the transformative power of the Spirit at work in me.  I will be praying for the grace to seek direction for my stumblings and a wider view for my visions, all the while mindful that Easter is on the horizon.

 - Sr. Lucy Godfrey, csj

Remembering God’s Love Together

“However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.” DT 4.9.

I often joke about my memory as I get older. It can be frustrating when things I really want to remember, I somehow forget. I have heard people call this the “Teflon” effect. Other memories seem to be so deeply imprinted on my mind and heart that I have carried them with me throughout my life. My memory has both gifts and gaps.

Recently my daughter reminded me of a sweet childhood memory I had forgotten. She recalled coming to me for a morning hug. I would wrap my cozy bathrobe around both of us, with her little face peeking out and then she would stand on my feet and walk with me around the kitchen. It was a lovely, warm memory, and her retelling it brought it back to me vividly.

The silver lining to the elusive clouding of memory is that I am not alone on this journey. There is beauty and wonder in our collective memory as people who have shared experiences. The gift of memory, shared in our stories is an invitation into something far richer than my solitary life.

Moses spoke to the people and taught them to observe the law which God had commanded him to give to them, but the law had it’s meaning in their shared memory of God freeing them from slavery. This is what he urged them not to forget. They had personally experienced the plagues and first Passover which led to Pharaoh’s reluctant defeat, the terror of being pursued by the Egyptians and the parting of the Red Sea. Finally, they stood together at the theophany at Mount Horeb. They saw the blazing fire and dark clouds, and heard God’s voice declaring the covenant they were to keep. God had dramatically revealed first his powerful love and then the law which would make them like him; just, wise and in the eyes of the world, great. The shared personal experience of God’s love for them was what made the law meaningful.

We know the rest of their story, the ongoing struggle to be faithful to the covenant, because it is the foundation of our faith. In spite of the many ways they tried to remember, with more and more laws, the people often wandered. They got caught up in their day to day life and the novelty of the surrounding cultures. This is our story too.

Perhaps Lent is a time to remind us to “take care and be earnestly on our guard not to forget the things our own eyes have seen.”

What is my personal experience of God’s saving love? How God has revealed his love for you and others with whom you share faith? Christians share personal and communal experience of the God’s gift of Jesus, and his Spirit, both within and among us in our lives and liturgy. We need one another’s help to remember and not to forget.

Remembering and sharing our stories of faith makes our laws and traditions meaningful. Before we can wholeheartedly renew Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and charity, our hearts may need to recall God’s saving power and presence among us.

Guest Blogger Jane Phillipson

We Serve in Ways that are Uniquely Ours

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” Mt 20:28

Here we are a few weeks into Lent-this holy time of purification when we ask God to call to us, to turn us, to orient us to a life of serving God through our dear neighbour. As we try to listen each day and especially during Lent to orient our hearts to the Sun of compassion, let us ask ourselves, “What does this look like in my life? How do I serve my neighbour? How am I reaching out to those in need as the book of Christian prayer puts it ‘for those who ask and for those who are too needy to ask’. What does this conversion look like? How is it different from how I usually live?”

There is no right answer or one answer. God calls each of us to serve in a way that is uniquely ours, using the gifts given and the graces received.

One Sister I know says that Lent is her favourite season of the year. While I am personally somewhat far from experiencing that sentiment, I do hear what she is saying: this time of purification, service and compassion is a gift to be received, an opportunity offered for us to further nurture the relationships in each of our lives. As we do so, let us consider adopting this as our way of being not just during Lent but throughout the year.

Nancy Sullivan CSJ

From Lent to Easter and Winter to Spring: The Journey of Hope and Promise

We are journeying through the Easter Triduum. We are looking forward to Easter and spring with all the hope that accompanies the liturgical season and the natural season – both times during which we celebrate resurrection and new life. The Paschal Mystery celebrated in our churches and reflected so clearly in the “nature of things” – of all created life, reminds us of continuity and wholeness:  cross AND resurrection, winter AND spring.

This Lent I have been reflecting on (and trying to practice) some ways in which our traditional Lenten practices have been “greened” in churches.  Four years ago, for example, parts of the Anglican Church proposed that rather than fasting from usual things like chocolate or other favourite food items, members consider participating in a carbon fast. Examples included carpooling or taking public transport or being more careful with the use of electricity, shopping for local produce and resisting items from far away requiring long-distance transportation to our supermarkets. All of these practices were recommended in light of the urgent call to Christians to respond to the devastating consequences of climate change.

The following Lent, the Roman Catholic bishops of England and Wales recommended a return to Friday fast and abstinence. This was not solely about the externals of a former “Catholic identity” but was closely linked to current environmental considerations. In particular, the conference of bishops suggested that abstinence from meat at least one day each week during Lent as well as being a “spiritual discipline” reminds us that the over-consumption, especially in wealthier countries, of red meat leads to environmentally problematic farming practices and a reduction in grain so necessary to feed the hungry worldwide. 

What was of special interest in the Catholic bishops’ recommendations was the proposal that the practice of Friday fast and abstinence be continued beyond Lent. The Lenten practices were about forming new habits spiritually, or conversion, that could be linked closely to ongoing contributions to wellbeing in the world. So rather than putting a “damper” on our Easter celebrations perhaps some reflection on traditional Lenten practices might lead us to a “green conversion” that will truly allow us and the world to rejoice in new life. What if my prayer became a contemplative prayer of thanksgiving and rejoicing in the gift creation? What if my lifestyle were such that my “fasting” from some things becomes “almsgiving” for the wellbeing of the environment and my poorer neighbours? This truly would be a celebration of resurrection:  Lent into Easter, winter into spring, love for life!

Mary Rowell, CSJ