Lent – Just a Thought
‘Candlemas, a candle less’, the old Country folk would say as the feast of light heralded longer evenings. They celebrated St. Brigid’s Day since it marked the beginning of spring when the earth begins to renew itself.

Lent too signifies spring, light replacing darkness, life replacing death. The sobering reality of Ash Wednesday tells us the truth of who we are: ‘Remember that you are dust and unto dust you will return’. It also begins with an appeal from the very heart of God; ‘Come back to me with all your heart . . . turn to the Lord your God again, for He is all tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness, and ready to relent’.

We lead complex lives. Inside each of us there is both the saint and the sinner. Henri Nouwen expresses it thus: ‘Indeed, how divided my heart has been and still is! I want to love God but also to make a career. I want to be a saint, but also enjoy the sensations of the sinner. I want to be close to Christ but also popular and liked by people’. That could be the story of my soul. My sin is a rejection of a caring God.
Jesus went into the desert to prepare for his mission. There He was tempted by demons. The desert is the place where one does battle with evil. Whether the devil is a person, an addiction or paranoia, in the end we still need to do battle at exactly the same place. We meet Satan as the prodigal son did, in weakness, or as his older brother did in bitterness. We all have our own demons to meet.

Entering the desert is staring our inner chaos in the face. That’s painful. We learn wisdom by reflecting on the times when we blew it! No day is an ordinary day! Life can be hard. But it’s more than suffering although suffering is part of the story.
There is the demon of self-preoccupation and self-centredness, telling us in our daydreams that we are special. There is the demon of fear that has us worried about the future. We may have to deal with the demon of obsession, addiction or lust. There are so many of them like the demon of bitterness, anger, jealousy, joylessness and self-pity.

It’s not easy. But scripture tells us that like Jesus, God sends angels to minister to us. They will bring calm, restfulness, peace, humility and joy. Our search for God is not an escape, but a closer look at the circumstances in which life has placed us. It is here that Christ will meet us. Lent is about knowing the presence of the sacred in the ordinary.

We will leave the final word to Isaiah (43:1) when he says, ‘Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are mine’.

– Fr Jimmy