Our Lenten Journey

As the Church prepares for the season of Lent, many Catholics will be deciding what habit or comfort to give up this year.

Even many Catholics otherwise inactive in the faith  continue the custom of making a sacrifice for Lent. This is as much an expression of cultural Catholicism as their participation in Christmas or Easter. Such ties should not be discouraged.

Of course, Lent has a deeper significance to the active Catholic, who needs little reminding that this 40-day period is the Church’s invitation to follow Jesus into the desert, to emerge spiritually cleansed at Easter. A few years ago, this newspaper likened Lent to a spiritual make-over a time to diminish the pervasive influence of the temporal world over our minds, and to polish up our souls.

The ritual of giving up chocolates or beer or red meat or watching television is salutary indeed. Many pastors will rightly remind their congregations on Ash Wednesday that the chosen sacrifice is not intended to be a marathon test of their willpower. If we happen to fail to observe our sacrificial undertaking, we must not succumb to resignation, but continue on our Lenten path.

However, as our columnist Mathibela Sebothoma rightly points out this week, our Lenten sacrifice need not involve abstinence from bad habits at all; it can also involve taking up a good habit, a sacrifice of our passivity or indifference in the face of human need.

This could be in the field of charitable work (by contributing financially or by active engagement), by concentrated prayer, or by fostering personal relationships with those in need of these.

Lent, as a period of spiritual renewal, is a good time also to seek forgiveness from God, from others, and from ourselves for our offences, and to offer forgiveness to those who may have caused us grief or anger.

Much can be gained from healing an old rift in a relationship. And if that entails compromising our pride, then this surely represents a much more meaningful Lenten sacrifice than giving up cigarettes or coffee.

Likewise, making use of the sacrament of penance can bring great spiritual and emotional rewards, especially for those carrying heavy burdens of guilt without having considered recourse to Jesus in relieving that load.

Lent, as a season in the life of the Church, is not about the individual person alone, however. While we make our own personal decisions on our way to encountering the risen Christ on Easter Sunday, we nevertheless also exercise our faith communally as part of the People of God.

It is therefore right that we are asked to individually contribute towards a collective sacrificial gift. This is where the second collection at Mass for the annual Bishops’ Lenten Appeal assumes such importance.

As we report this week, the Lenten Appeal supports the total mission of the local Church, helping those in need directly through material support, and indirectly by helping to finance the infrastructure by which the Church can carry out its mission to the poor in wealth or in spirit.

Pope Benedict in his Lenten message this year seems to underline this purpose when he says: May Lent be for every Christian a renewed experience of God’s love given to us in Christ, a love that each day we, in turn, must re-give to our neighbour, especially to the one who suffers most and is in need.