Lent is a Journey (from Ashes to Easter)

Though Lent is a special season for Catholics, to me, it was never my most favorite season of the year. Usually, I spent Lent by fasting and abstaining and occasionally going to Church for Stations of the Cross (usually) on Fridays. Why Fridays? because it is the day Jesus died.

I often think, the more sacrifices (read: Fasting and Abstinence) I make during Lent, the more meaningful Lent will be for me. That is why, to my memory, my most meaningful Lent so far was two years ago, when I managed to abstain from Chili for the whole Lent Season, including on Sundays. If you know me well, you can roughly guess what an ordeal to me it was... simply excruciating.

After reading Pope Benedict XVI’s Ash Wednesday Catechesis transcript, I am again reminded that Lent is not just a period or duration of doing more than usual stuffs, Lent is a Journey. It is amusing that I often say and sing about but never really reflect on and live up “the Lenten Journey”.

I am so humbled that the reminder come from the Vicar of Christ himself. I happen to read it, and I happen to be invited as well. Yep, I am invited to have a “truly meaningful” Lenten Journey this year, and here I would like to invite others too.

When I think of the word Journey, I immediately think of two things involved in a journey. Firstly, journey involves movement/ progression from one place/state to another place/state. There is a start point and an end point, there is a sense of direction and purpose. Secondly, journey involves all the things experienced within that period of the movement. In other words, a journey does involves things done / experienced in a certain time period. But not only that, it is a purposeful period of time. The things done / experienced should lead us somewhere. Doing things without goal is simply meaningless.

What is this Lenten Journey about? Pope Benedict wonderfully sums it up in the following paragraph:
“Lent is a journey; it is to accompany Jesus who goes up to Jerusalem, the place of the fulfillment of the mystery of his passion, death and resurrection; it reminds us that the Christian life is a 'journey' to undertake, which consists not so much in a law to be observed but in the very person of Christ, who we must encounter, receive and follow.”

Our lifelong ongoing Christian journey’s aim is to die to ourselves so that Christ lives in us (Gal 2:20). During Lent season, we should aim to 'lessen' ourselves so that Christ can be 'more' in us.. that’s the goal.

Being a special season, a special journey, there are special things we can do / experience throughout lent that will help us to have more of Christ in us. The following are those things that I can find in Pope Benedict’s catechesis on (Ash) Wednesday’s public audience alone.

1. The Liturgy

And it is above all in the liturgy, in participation in the holy mysteries, where we are led to undertake this journey with the Lord; it is putting ourselves in Jesus' school, reflecting on the events that brought us salvation, but not as a simple commemoration, a memory of past events. In the liturgical actions, where Christ makes himself present through the power of the Holy Spirit, those salvific events become actual.

In this upcoming 5 Sundays of Lent preceding the Palm Sunday and the Holy Week, the readings are specifically chosen to help us progress in dying to self and rising with Christ. Pope Benedict further points that in this liturgical year, the readings are the great proclamation of what God does in the sacrament of Baptism. By journeying together with the catechumens expecting for baptism this coming Easter, we are reminded on a great mystery of our baptism, that we, “dead to sin, is made a participant in new life in Christ Risen and receives the Spirit of God that resurrected Jesus from the dead (cf. Romans 8:11).”

Pope Benedict further gave us a brief reflection on each of the Sunday reading, relating it to the catechumenate journey. All parishes in Singapore give FREE copies of Lenten Booklet (purple in color, entitled 'From Wilderness to the Waters of Life'). I think this will be a very helpful resource to help us reflect on the Sunday Readings during Lenten.

2. The Lenten Itinerary

This Lenten itinerary that we are invited to follow is characterized, in the tradition of the Church, by some practices: fasting, almsgiving and prayer.

Fasting is not to test how strong a person is or to practice self mastery per se. It can be very subtle, I thought by doing great sacrifices, such as abstaining from even a bit of chili, and doing it “for God”, I will please him. Well, it is not entirely wrong, if I did not rely only on my strength. Relying on my own, the best thing that I could do was to ‘repress’ my appetite. I managed to repress it for 40 days, but repression would eventually lead to indulgence some day... that explains why I am such a worse chili eater now than before.

God does not demand sacrifices, He demands mercy, and contrite heart, He will not reject. One’s sacrifices are acceptable only if it brings their heart closer to Him. Fasting / abstaining from food or from anything else (such as internet, movies, etc) is useful only if it leads one to abstain from Sin. How can this be possible? This is only possible when one reorders their desire towards God. If by fasting one puts God as superior to any other (even) good things that one is overwhelmed by God’s merciful Love, fasting will bring forth the desire to amend even the little mistakes.

Same thing applies to almsgiving. If we give some amount of money, grumbling, we should ask God’s grace to be detached from that amount of money and to be so overwhelmed by God’s love, so much so that we desire to share it with others, even by giving our own money so dear to us. This is not at all an excuse for not giving when we still grumble in our heart. We can pray for God’s grace and also put the money into the donation box. God can change our heart, especially if we ask for it.

3. Today

There is a key word to which recourse is often taken in the liturgy to indicate this (that those salvific events become actual, through the Power of the Holy Spirit): the word ‘today’; and it must be understood in its original, not metaphorical sense. Today God reveals his law and lets us choose today between good and evil, between life and death (cf. Deuteronomy 30:19); today 'the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the Gospel' (Mark 1:15); today Christ died on Calvary and has resurrected from the dead; he has ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father; today we are given the Holy Spirit; today is the favorable time. To participate in the liturgy means, therefore, to submerge one's life in the mystery of Christ, in his permanent presence, to undertake a journey in which we enter into his death and resurrection to have life.

The liturgical actions, including the proclamation of the Word, through the Power of the Holy Spirit, make Christ present in our life “today”. In some sense, the liturgy is extended beyond the rituals, it is actualized even in our daily living. The nourishment of Word of God daily is also important. And during this Lent season, we are invited to fall in love more (or again, if we have fallen out love) towards the daily scripture reflection. Pope Benedict rightly stated “He does not really fast who does not know how to nourish himself on the Word of God.”

During this Lent Season, it seems that we are living a life of self privation (from food, from delicacies, from internet, etc). The things that we “give up” are not necessarily bad things.. food, delicacies and internet are good. One can go as far as fasting or abstaining from something towards the entire Lent Season. Though it is not necessary, if this helps one to recognize God’s ultimate goodness above all created beings no matter how good they are, I think one should do so. If one is not able to do so, one should not feel guilty about it. Far more important than exterior sign is the interior reality of our commitment, with God's help, to abstain from evil and to live the Gospel, which we are called to live up daily. (This is not at all an excuse for not fasting on the days of fasting/ Fridays).

We are called to journey with Jesus daily. Jesus has given us the entry to unite our day to day journey, from the simplest breathing to the most complicated moments, with His journey of life, passion, death and resurrection. That entry is Grace, the divine participation and supernatural help, that is so abundantly dispensed to us at every single moment. That is why it is very important for us to examine our disposition of heart towards God and to cooperate with His grace daily, especially the grace of repentance, to re-embrace the participation into divine life, the life of grace. When we are under influence of grace, we have the power (given by Christ) to ‘Baptise’ every single moment. Thus, every passing moment is full of potential for sanctification.

Exteriorly, this 40 days of Lent looks like more sober than usual kind of days, due to fasting (belly privation) and almsgiving (pocket privation). However, if this belly and pocket privation helps us to be more aware of our longing for the thing that truly satisfied, we will be drawn more to God. Since we are getting in touch more with the needs of our Spirit and Soul, our core being, that can sometimes be obscured by our physical needs, we might be surprised that Lent Season is not so sober, it is a joyful season.

In any wonderful and good journey, one undergoes rich experience and is brought closer to the end point. I hope this Lenten Journey will bring all of us closer to our main goal. Finally, I want to echo Pope Benedict’s exhortation to my friends
“Dear friends, on this Lenten journey let us be careful to accept Christ's invitation to follow him in a more determined and coherent way, renewing the grace and commitments of our baptism, to abandon the old man that is in us and to clothe ourselves with Christ, so that renewed, we will reach Easter and be able to say with St. Paul, ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’ (Galatians 2:20). A good Lenten journey to you all! Thank you!”

Yep, have a good Lenten journey to you all! XD