Preparing for Lent

by Editor · March 4, 2001

By now, Catholics will have received the symbolic ashes on their foreheads, marking the beginning of Lent.

As we prepare for the resurrected Christ, we strive to purge ourselves from bad habits and routine sins, make sacrifices, and seek spiritual renewal. Many will have chosen to give up at least one habit.

Abstaining from smoking, drinking or eating red meat for 40 days has its purifying benefits. Taking up a good practice for Lent can yield even greater spiritual profits.

In his Lenten letter to the faithful of Durban’s archdiocese, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier wrote that during Lent, “we go beyond ourselves and reach out to others, a time of giving. Love urges us to give more, to walk that extra mile so that we can help those who are in need of our help: the hungry, the unemployed, homeless, the hopeless ones, and those who feel unloved and forgotten.”

The options of what one might call productive penance are boundless. Volunteer at your local home for Aids orphans, even if your qualifications in that field are limited to playing with the little ones.

Seek out the lonely and the aged in your parish to provide companionship and, if needed, help. Give to or volunteer at a soup kitchen for the homeless. Hand food parcels to your parish’s Society of St Vincent de Paul or care group.

Make a gift of toys to a children’s hospital or a township creche. Offer your help to organisations that provide desperate pregnant mothers with an alternative to abortion, such as Birthright or Mater Vitae (both advertise in The Southern Cross).

Write letters of thanks and encouragement to your priest, deacon, parish pastoral council and bishop. Contribute to the media apostolate by vigorously promoting Catholic publications such as The Southern Cross, Worldwide and Trefoil in your parish.

Make contact with estranged family members, friends, neighbours or colleagues to ask for and offer forgiveness and a new start to your relationship

On top of all that, Catholics are urged to contribute abundantly to the Lenten Appeal collections at mass, proceeds of which are allocated to the needy as well as a variety of crucial apostolates in the local Church.