Lenten penances as a source of truth, beauty, goodness
Lent is fast approaching and, with it, many experience a certain amount of, dare I say, dread. Do you know of anyone who looks forward to this penitential season? We look forward to Easter, of course!
We are always longing for that triumphant day. And who doesn’t look forward to Christmas time, with its celebrations and warm memories. Everywhere we look currently, we see vestiges of Mardi Gras, the party before Lent: King Cake in the store and green, gold, and purple everything.
But Lent, the black sheep of the liturgical year, is hardly anticipated with anything other than resignation or avoidance.
We don’t feel comfortable with the idea of fasting in a religious sense. Which is interesting since so many in our culture are intermittent fasting for health.
But fasting for spiritual health comes across as too much, maybe even legalistic and self-righteous. So Lent gets a bad rap. But I don’t think it should. Lent is far too beautiful for all that.
Christians keep the Lenten fast from Ash Wednesday — Feb. 22 this year — when the faithful are marked with an ashen cross on the forehead, until Holy Thursday, when Jesus washed the filthy feet of his disciples and shared the Passover meal. Ashes in the Bible were used to symbolize mourning and penance.
Think of Job, diseased, sitting among the ashes, unable to keep himself from scratching his oozing wounds. Ashes remind us of the Israelites and the long centuries of pining for a Savior, of sorrow and mourning. In imitation of Jesus in the wilderness, we fast, pray, and give alms for 40 days.
I wonder if part of the problem we have with Lent is the avoidance of discomfort. Even when life is challenging, we have so much ease. We typically aren’t living the same life as people even 75 years ago. The stories my grandmother tells about living in the Ozarks in the 70’s without power and getting up at 4 a.m. to start the wood cook stove for breakfast are not my experience of life at all. I have a comfortable life and you probably do, too.
When Lent comes around and it’s time to give up some comfort, some ease for Jesus, it’s hard. But the truth is, removing bad habits and replacing them with prayer, giving up sweets or ending a shower with 30 seconds of cold water, staying off social media, eating at home and giving the money saved to charity, or any other myriad of tiny things we can do to pick up our cross can only clear our vision of the path to follow Jesus.
If Jesus fasted 40 days in the desert, without food or water, and commanded us to not fast like the hypocrites in Matthew 6:16, can we not joyfully give up some comforts for our Savior? If we understand the truth of the sacrifice on Calvary, can we not sacrifice from our time, energy, and wallet to care for those in need?
If we understand the beauty of Jesus going off alone to pray, can we not add extra prayer into our day, perhaps at regular intervals during the day, a prayer walk during lunch, an evening time to pray as a family?
If we know the goodness of God and all He has done for us, can we not happily amend our lives and joyfully offer up comforts to accompany Jesus in His Passion? Can we not, like the disciples, stay awake for an hour? Forty days is not too long or too hard when we know Easter is coming, when Jesus exchanges our ashes for a crown of beauty.
Hope, peace and grace to you.
Brandi
Skidmore is vice president for the Ladies Altar Society at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church at Lake Village.
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