The Lenten Journey – A Powerful Season of Reflection
Greetings in Christ!
At the start of March, we celebrate Ash Wednesday. These services fill the churches all over the world every year. The ashes of Ash Wednesday must be one of the most popular sacramentals in the Church. It is not a holy day of obligation, but thousands of people gather to the church services. Ash Wednesday reminds us of the mortality of the body and the eternity of the soul. The body, upon which we lavish so much attention, will return back to dust. The soul – that we often ignore – will live forever. This day is a serious day, as it should be. It is not, however, a day of gloom but a day of hope.
We will begin a very powerful season of the Church year, a journey that will take us to the celebration of Easter in the Church. Lent is a great time of Christian and Catholic identity because it is something we all do together. Sometimes, we see people on the street with the ashes on their foreheads and never realized that they were Catholic. As the prophet Joel calls the whole community together to seek the Lord, so also are we all called to make the spiritual journey to a new life in Christ.
Sometimes, we put off our renewal as Catholics to the future, a future that never quite comes. St. Paul writes that now is a grace-filled hour. Now is the time when we can begin to revise and remodel our life. Now is the time for an “extreme makeover” to reverse destructive choices, halt spiritual drift, go back to the basics of our faith, and refresh our lives in the truth of the Gospel, the grace of the Sacraments and the life of the Church.
In Scripture, the Lord points to three ancient pathways for our Lenten season. There is fasting, a time we give up certain foods. The effort to refrain from certain foods makes us realize how trapped we are in the self-gratification of our daily life. Fasting is difficult to start, but as we practice it, fasting becomes easier; we experience a personal liberation. The practice of almsgiving reminds us that we have a responsibility to others. We have a responsibility to love others as Christ has taught us. The third path is that of reviving in our life the potential of prayer to unify all the sectors of our life around Christ and establish an open relationship with God.
Let us start this Lenten season with prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Let us restore our relationship with God. Lent is not about our past; it is about our future.
Blessings,
Deacon Paul Williams
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Helotes
