Lent is about making personal sacrifices

The title of a hymn sung in the season of Lent, THE GLORY OF THESE 40 DAYS, strikes me as incongruous with its reference to the days of Lent as days of “GLORY.” Lent is about making personal sacrifices, giving things up, repentance, doing penance etc., none of which are experiences of glory. The hymn is very old; it possibly dates to the 10th century. Its antiquity points to its bearing an important truth which may have become obscured as Lent developed over the centuries.

The 40 days refer to Jesus’ forty days in the desert. All three of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) report this event of His life, showing its importance. Jesus’ 40 desert days involved for Him experiences of hunger, thirst, loneliness and temptation by the Evil One. While they were not easy days for Jesus, the hymn refers to them as days of “glory.”

The hymn continues, WE CELEBRATE WITH THANKS AND PRAISE. What is the cause of our celebration: our thanksgiving and praise? The answer is: Jesus’ triumph over evil and more, our participation in that triumph since we too are tempted by the same Evil One. His triumph in the desert foreshadowed His great and final triumph on the Cross and in the Resurrection, the Paschal Mystery in which we share through Baptism.

Our Holy Father Pope Francis in his MESSAGE FOR LENT 2020 refers to the Paschal Mystery when he writes, “we must continually return to this mystery in mind and heart, for it will continue to grow within us in the measure that we are open to its spiritual power and respond with freedom and generosity.” The “mystery” is the death and Resurrection of Jesus which Pope Francis reminds us is the “basis of conversion” and “is not a past event; rather through the power of the Holy Spirit is ever present.”

The common question during this season is: “What are you doing for Lent?” The Church wisely suggests abstinence, fasting and almsgiving (charity), which are practices of penance and self-denial. Giving something up in order to strengthen our relationship with God. Less of self. More of God. Lent is a grace-filled occasion for turning more toward the Lord, for repentance and conversion. It is a time for prayer, more prayer, better prayer, personal prayer, liturgical prayer. Prayer can turn us away from ourselves toward Him.

Lent is also a time to approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Confession, which can strengthen us for victory over the Evil One and stir up the power of the Paschal Mystery in us. In this Sacrament the Lord pours His mercy upon us which forgives our sins.

Lent is the season for us sinners to seek ways to change our hearts. It is a time for spiritual makeover; for renewal; starting again; for cleansing and healing; for new beginnings. It looks to Easter, to the triumph of the Paschal Mystery of the Lord, His victorious passing over death to Risen Life. All of which are prefigured in His victory over the Evil One in the doom of the desert and repeated once for all on the Cross and in the Resurrection.

Along with the 40 days of Lent we look to the 13½ weeks from Ash Wednesday to Pentecost Sunday when the Spirit fell on the members of the Church. The descent of the Holy Spirit completes the celebration of Christ and turns us whom the Holy Spirit helps into His disciples. Becoming missionary disciples of Jesus, who bring others to Him and to His family of believers, the Church.

Lent is “favorable time” as we hear on Ash Wednesday in the reading from the prophet Joel. In his Message for Lent 2020 Pope Francis writes “the Lord offers us a favorable time for our conversion…an opportunity to change.”

Let us determine to enter into this season of God’s grace according to our abilities and turn more fully to the Lord through our Lenten practices of charity, prayer, fasting and abstinence. Lent is a mere 40 days out of the 365 days of the year. They pass quickly but may they be for us 40 days of glory which we celebrate with thanks and praise.