Spiritual Development
Let us pray,
God of goodness and mercy, Hear my prayer as I begin this Lenten journey with you. Let me be honest with myself as I look into my heart and soul, noticing the times I turn away from you. Guide me as I humbly seek to repent and return to your love.”
Lent signifies the solemn 40-day period preceding Easter. Commencing on Ash Wednesday and concluding on Holy Saturday, Lent is typically characterized by fasting, prayer, and repentance as believers prepare for the celebration of Easter Sunday.
This season of reflection and self-discipline involves practices such as abstaining from certain indulgences, fostering a deeper spiritual connection, and commemorating the sacrifice of Jesus Christ by prayer, or other meaningful practices.
The word Lent comes from the Old English ’lencten’ springtime, and from West Germanic ‘langitinaz’ long-days or lengthening of the day. Popularly regarded as a fasting period, there are many ways to make the Lenten period meaningful without missing meals.
Not everyone that I know celebrates this time of fasting and abstinence in the same way. I know someone who did not wish to fore-go his usual bottle of single malt, but rather than giving it up, put the equal amount of money towards the food bank. I know another person who gave of his time and perhaps a little money, phoning an old friend each day over the 40 days of Lent.
Some people spend a little time reading the gospel, or extra time in prayer. Google tells us that there are many on-line Lenten programs one can follow.
In his book. “Letters and Papers from Prison,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, writing on Repentance Day — which was held on the Jewish Day of Atonement, listened to Bach’s B Minor Mass (and remembered hearing the Nazi’s play it while he was a prisoner at Flossenbürg concentration camp. He also enjoyed listening to St. Matthew’s Passion. Sometimes a piece of music can touch you and aid in finding a spiritual connection.
One could decide to abstain from chocolate, or scotch, or desserts, but I suspect that really isn’t the point.
What if the point is to spend significant time finding a way to bare ourselves to God: to ask God to help us find our true self. To expose all your angst, deal with our swallowed griefs and sorrows — to rid ourselves of all our baggage that we have clearly been trying to ignore. To explore the real person and offer it all to God.
If God is the greatest good, and if all that God creates is good, it follows that we humans are good — but we see every day that this “ain’t necessarily so”…but if our intention is good, and if we want to gain a better understanding of our Creator, then our Lenten intentions, likewise, are good.
What if we find a way to glorify God every day?
What if we stop promising ourselves that we will pray tomorrow — we just do it?
What if we stop trying to be perfect, because none of us are, and try to be perfectly ourselves?
What if we celebrate the good that is in us?
Perhaps if we spend this Lenten time of lengthening days, giving up for Lent, our foolishness of thinking working towards that Glorious first Hallelujah of Eastertide, we will find we have grown in love, and in companionship with ourselves and our God.
“May the God of all Goodness and Mercy follow you on this Lenten journey and may the barren parts of your life be made fruitful through the grace of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen”
