Of Sacrifice, Of Suffering

I sometimes think that the morning is the most innocuous time of the day.

All talk on sacrifice and suffering, by people who know, ends with dragging in Lent somewhere. As a liturgical season there is a fluidity, a moral reflectivity, a hint of moribundity. Lent begins as a private cerebral moment and transforms into some type of activity, either giving up something, or doing something else. Before Ash Wednesday we may be wanton chocolate eating, coffee drinking, gum chewing, gossip telling couch potatoes, Metro riding mockers, park bench poseurs. Lent provides each of us a moment to reflect upon our lives, reflect upon our individual conversion, and hopefully make changes. God offers us love, hope, grace and so many other things. And we sometimes are too busy to listen, to respond as all the modern noise and other distractions fill our minds today. We sometimes downgrade or momentarily push aside all the prayers and lessons of the preceding epoch. The point is, Lent provides both an invitation and a memory.

This is a simple statement of fact. It also is my personal interpretation of this liturgical season based upon the homilies and readings that I have heard. But though Lent is well known and practiced, even having believers with ashes on the foreheads on television shows and newspaper pages, it should not automatically be assumed that the reason for this season is thoroughly known or understood. There are two hundred people who have their opinion of this season based completely on this or that Scripture verse. Of those two hundred, there will be some who advocate prayer, some who promote almsgiving, some who encourage fasting, some who talk of giving up something, some who talk of doing something. It will probably be the two hundred first person who will remember to mention God, remember to explain that this liturgical season exists as preparation for the Easter season, remember to mention that hopefully the changes effected during this season will make us better Christians, move us closer to God. Lent is a time when our lives should reflect our love and admiration for Christ more brightly, more vibrantly; we should be outraged at the sin in our hearts and around us. The forty days allow us to become scholars, translators for God. There is something mischievous within Lent, the very public acknowledgment of our sinfulness and unworthiness which lets each and every one know that at one time or another we have been childish, selfish and yet God still shows us mercy and forgives us. Within our hearts as our love and trust in God grows stronger we are able to perceive God’s presence and grace; we are able to increase the goodness in our lives with a natural, gentle consistency.

We must always have appreciation and admiration for God in our hearts. We must train ourselves to willingly yield to him, be his humble, obedient servants. I know that this is often hard for us to do; we are human beings. However, we must remember that God has a plan for each one of us.