The Period of LENT

During the weeks of LENT, the faithful reflect on and meditate over the public life of Jesus and especially on its culmination in his passion, death and burial. It is a God-given time for turning to one’s own life more deeply and to become convinced of the abundant blessings of the loving God – the creation, the providential caring, the human fall, the helplessness of man to save himself, the promise of salvation, the redemption through His Son Jesus, the invaluable Gift of the Holy Spirit, and the inheritance of the heavenly Kingdom. This must naturally lead the faithful to metanoia, a total conversion, and a full return to the loving Father in His Son the redeeming Jesus Christ and its proclamation in the Church through the Mystery (Sacrament) of Reconciliation.  Thus, all the faithful make themselves ready to rise up with Lord Jesus to a totally new life of peace and joy.

For this, everybody should fully become oriented towards God and fellow beings during the Great Fast. In short, prayer (personal intimacy with Jesus – upavasa), renunciation (getting rid of everything that is not pleasing to Jesus – tapas) and almsgiving (helping the neighbor in all possible ways – dana-dharma) should become the action plan of Lenten season.

It is through the example of Christ and through his teachings that we can be further purified and strengthened through one more period of Lent, (Past tense of Lend = borrow; given to us for temporary use) lent to us by God to enable us to turn away further from the World and the Prince of Darkness and turn closer to the kingdom and the Lord of Light, thus turning over to a new life in Christ. In his person, Jesus as head has rejected and overcome the temptations. As members of the Mystical Body of Christ, we the members must personally accept the commands made by the Head (Jesus). This acceptance and execution of the commands from the Head, makes us members active and holy.

According to Pope Francis, "Lent is a time of grace to the extent that we listen to him as he speaks to us. And how does he speak to us? First, in the word of God, which the Church offers us in the liturgy. May that word not fall on deaf ears".

"Lent leads to Easter: the “retreat” is not an end in itself, but a means of preparing us to experience the Lord’s passion and cross with faith, hope and love, and thus to arrive at the resurrection".

"Lenten penance is a commitment, sustained by grace, to overcoming our lack of faith and our resistance to following Jesus on the way of the cross".

Let us then, with the Church, make our prayer, “Lord, protect us in our struggle against evil, as we sanctify our life during this period of Lent by our self-denial.”