LENT

Lent is a time of preparation for the Paschal Triduum, (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil) when we recall the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord. For many Lent means austerity and penance motivated by sorrow for sin but there is another dimension to Lent, namely, the joy experienced by people who have been redeemed by the Lord. And so Lent is also a time of anticipation for the coming Easter celebrations.

Lent calls us to a renewed awareness of our vocation as Christians. In our day to day living we fall short of the ideal which is put to followers of Jesus. And so we are challenged to be open to conversion, to adjust our lives so that they are more and more compatible with the way that Jesus wants us to live. Lent is a very special invitation to take up the challenge of conversion.

As the ashes are placed on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday the minister pronounces the words Repent and Believe in the Gospel (Mark 1,15). The more we repent the more we show that we believe in the gospel and the stronger our faith in the gospel is the greater will be our effort to repent and to convert. The practical steps of conversion may have to do with a better quality prayer life, a more attentive attitude to those with whom we live, a more consistent participation in the community, a more solid commitment to family and friends, a more caring approach to those who suffer.

This is the Year of Mercy, proclaimed by Pope Francis, and it offers an excellent opportunity to face up to the challenge of conversion. We could usefully look at the spiritual and corporal works of mercy and ask ourselves – how could we live these more consistently throughout 2016?

The spiritual works of mercy are: to counsel the doubtful, to instruct the ignorant, to admonish sinners, to comfort the afflicted, to forgive offences, to bear patiently those who do is ill, to pray for the living and the dead.

The corporal works of mercy are: to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to welcome the stranger, to heal the sick, to visit the imprisoned, to bury the dead.

Conversion is a project which lasts a lifetime because it is always possible, and necessary, to become more like the persons that God wants us to be, to identify ourselves ever more with the ideal which Jesus set before us.

Lent is an opportunity to progress the process of conversion.