There has only been one perfect Lent in human history, and it is recorded in the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. I am, of course, referring to Jesus entering the desert and overcoming the temptations of Satan. He goes into the desert, fasts for forty days, and is hungry. He then encounters three temptations – satiating His sensual desire as the highest good, gaining power and material things as the highest good, and seeking glory and honor as the highest good. In all three temptations, Jesus conquers through not succumbing to His wants and desires, but holding fast to the Word of God. When the temptations are complete, Satan departs and angels come to minister to Him.
Then Jesus begins his ministry of bringing the kingdom of God to him. So before Jesus ushers in the Kingdom of God to the children of Israel, He first conquers the temptations of Satan in His own heart. Jesus becomes the stronger man to bind the ‘strong man’ of Satan who is holding the world captive through sinfulness.
Each Lent, we follow Jesus into the desert. He has already conquered Satan, and we receive this victory when we remain in Him. However, we have to be taught how to fully trust the Father as Jesus does. Physical comfort, wealth, prestige, and power can all be good things, but they are often a distraction from our Christian virtues. When they become the focus of our life, they not only are a distraction, but they can also become an idol that will never satisfy.
So we fast to get rid of our attachment to physical comforts, we give alms to tear down our attachment to worldly things, and we pray to give God the glory, not ourselves. It is through these actions that we strip away distractions and truly reveal what is in our hearts. For us, Lent should not be a time to answer the questions: Can I do it? How hard can it be? How much weight can I lose? We should be asking the questions: Am I kind when I do not have all the things I want? Do I value things or social status over people? Am I patient when I am not in control? The first set of questions focuses on our achievements. The second group focuses on identifying things that stop us from loving God and others. This was the focus of Jesus when He went into the desert. He surpassed all temptation in order to love God and others perfectly. For us to have a good Lent, we must adopt the same mindset.
The perfect Lent happened once and it will not happen again. We will fail at loving others perfectly. But that is why we do it. Lent allows us to identify our failures and give them to Jesus in His paschal mystery so that He can conquer them in us. In this way, we do not make the second perfect Lent ever, but we make present the first perfect Lent in our uniting ourselves with Him. So whether you have been successful in your penances this Lent or failed (or somewhere in between), remember that Lent’s purpose is for identifying the areas where we fail to love. Because God is not calling us to complete a laundry list or huge tasks, He is just calling us to be like Him – true love.
