కార్మెల్ శోభ

 

The season of Lent is the season of spring

 

Time is fulfilled. Mark 1:15

The night is far gone, The day is near. Romans 13:12.

 

Dear friends, this year we are entering the season of lent on February 22nd,. Lent is an important and glorious spiritual period in the Christian faith. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday and ends with Resurrection.

 

❖     Prophet Moses spent forty days in God's presence on Mount Sinai and received God's commandments.

❖     Prophet Elijah made a spiritual journey for forty days to Horeb, the mountain of God, and found God.

❖     Lord Jesus fasted and prayed for forty days in the desert and was ready for the establishment of the kingdom of God and the ministry of the gospel.

❖     For us too, these forty days are a great opportunity to make ourselves good.

 

In what way? Reflect - Repent - Renew

●       By Reflecting upon and considering thoroughly our lives and our relationship with God

●       By Repenting and dying to our sins and trespasses

●       By Renewing our conviction to our faith and being born again to our devoted life

 

But as usual, we tend to think about what to do, what not to do, what to listen to, what not to listen to, what to see, what not to see, what to leave behind. Along with these it is common to participate in some spiritual activities. We are tempted to do it very faithfully. Everything is good.But once this period of lent is over and the resurrection comes, it has become common to resume our old life with old enthusiasm. Many of us have related to this category. In the end, something is missing, lacking in us. Because of this, our attitude towards lent is whether we see it as an annual rule, obligation or self-discipline. We observe it as it is only a  period of just repentance

 

Reflect - Repent - Renew

 

Reflect - The time of lent is the time to examine ourselves, understand ourselves, and know the spiritual condition we are in. This spiritual journey is a time to examine our lives and relationship with God and unity with fellow believers and fellow brothers and sisters.

Repent/ Death - True repentance and death to sin by turning away from our sinful ways, focusing our attention on God and living as witnesses of God's love. This is what is expected from us.

Renew/Rebirth – lent is a period of renewal and rebirth to a life of dedicated faith by changing our way of thinking, speaking and acting. That is why lent is a spring season

➔    Spiritual springtime

➔    A time of grace

➔    Joyful season

➔    A time to start a new chapter.

Season of Spring- everyone's favourite

A time when nature is budding, everything appears beautiful and pleasant.

It becomes conducive for plant growth. Nature revives itself during this season. Everyone likes and tries to enjoy themselves to the fullest.

Such is the lenten season

It infuses a new vitality into our spiritual life. Because this is the time to be filled with God, grow up in Christ, and be anointed with the Spirit. This spiritual springtime is the renewal / rebirth of our withered life into a new life with a new bud.

 

Three pillars of Lent

They are the vehicles that guide us in our spiritual life and journey through this period of penance

1.      Prayer

2.      Fasting

3.      Almsgiving

 

1.      Prayer: We do pray daily. As we speak to God, God speaks to us. But what we need to do in this period is to understand their meaning and significance. Spend some time with sincerity. Prayer is about establishing a relationship with God

 

2.      Fasting: it’s not just discarding our Likes and Dislikes, Fasting should be practised not with sorrow, but with humility, with joy and a high purpose. The focus is about being with God and near God. We should do it with joy that we are getting closer to God, not with sadness that we are discarding things, and fasting from things.

 

3.      Almsgiving: We know that there are many kinds of charities. So donating some material is not the focus here, but giving ourselves to the fullest as much as we can for the needy. It’s not all about material things but also sharing our time and talents, sources and skills for the other.

Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving are interrelated. We come near to God in fasting by discarding our sins, we connect to God in Prayer by reflection and we share that experience in our acts of charity/almsgiving.

We begin the period of lent with ashes and end with fire, filled with the flame of the resurrection, the flame of the Holy Spirit. It's time for Christ to wash our lives with His blood and give us new life. Therefore let us overthink about

●       What we shouldn’t do

●       Let us make full use of this period of lent to see how our life should be.

FR. JAYARAJU MANTHENA OCD