It’s that time of year again. Christmas is over. Outside is bitter cold. The weather is overcast and ugly. Life slips into a monotonous routine. It’s time to prepare for Lent. There are many Catholic blogs and evangelization organizations that will give you tips and tricks on how to have THE BEST LENT EVER! They may even give you a program to follow in exchange for your email. And these things used in their correct context can be very helpful for many people. However, we must be careful to not treat Lent as a time for self help or another New Years Resolution. It is a time to focus on the necessity of having a period of life that is focused on detachment.
The well lived human life is one that has seasons. There are times to laugh, there are times to cry; there are times to work hard, there are times to relax. Society has created a flow of life through both the yearly calendar and work week that allows us to enter into these seasons.
Within the spiritual life, there are seasons as well. There are times to be thankful and rejoice, and there are times for repentance and prayer; there are times for contemplation and there are times for struggle. For those who desire a relationship with God, the Church has created a calendar of liturgical living which invites us into the life of Jesus.
While Jesus had many moments of celebration and joy in His time here on Earth, we know that he also took time to fast and pray. He did this to prepare Himself to have the greatest capacity of love in His ministry. By denying Himself earthly pleasures and offering them as a sacrifice to His Father, He was able to have the grace necessary to do the Father’s will.
The Church sees this in the life of Jesus, and as the body of Christ, enters into His life through the various seasons of celebration and sacrifice. Lent is the time where we enter into Jesus’ prayer and fasting in order to prepare ourselves to show the same love that He does. We recognize that worldly attachments can lead to sinfulness, so we collectively strive for something higher so that we can continue to foster our relationship with God and share His love with others.
So as we prepare for this Lenten season, let us remember that there is no quick fix. No tips and tricks and no programs are going to magically fix our spiritual life. They certainly can be a catalyst for conversation or informational enough to stimulate our spiritual fervor. But what this time is about is entering into the facet of Jesus’ life that allowed him to die to himself. We give up good things to receive the grace to live for something greater: A loving daily relationship with our Father who created us. And if what we are doing for Lent does not foster that, then we have missed the mark.