Learning To Look At Lent In A New Way
Thank God Lent is over! Now I can get back to eating my three pork chops instead of two; my chocolate cake, which I sacrificed for 40 days; not to mention my Cokes and Pepsis! I’ve attended enough extra daily masses that, in case I miss Sunday mass this year, I should be taken care of!!
Such was my (our!) thinking about Lent when we were children. We would give up candy or soft drinks, always asking when does Lent end. Our parents’ typical response was “on Holy Saturday at noon” – although very few Catholics knew why Lent ended “on Holy Saturday at noon.” The Easter Vigil was celebrated in the morning until Pope Pius XII changed it to after sundown around 1952. Adults would give up their beer or cigarettes just scratching at the bit until Lent ended to have a swig or light up. But did those customs make us better people?
Unfortunately this was not – and is not – the purpose of Lent. Although Lent is a season of penance and good works, we were supposed to examine our lives to see where we needed to change to become more like Christ. By ridding our lives of sin and evil, we would “rise with Christ” on Easter a little more. Sadly, this understanding of Lent changed when the Church no longer baptized new members on Holy Saturday, but scattered them throughout the year. The connection between Lent and our dying/rising with Christ was lost.
The new members – who are baptized, confirmed and celebrate Eucharist on Holy Saturday with us – promise to die to sin and a self-centered life, and to live for God alone in Christ. They proclaim to us the real purpose of our Lenten sacrifices and good works – we too are to die to sin and self-centeredness so that we may rise a little more with Christ on Easter. As St. Paul proclaimed so exquisitely in Romans 8:8-11 on the fifth Sunday of Lent, “If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you.” The Spirit wants to raise us NOWto new life in Christ, not only in the resurrection from the dead.
Our new members are living witnesses of the risen Lord’s presence among us as He calls women, men and children in our generation to become His disciples. He fills them with God’s own Spirit so that they may love with God’s love, see with the vision of the Gospel, and walk with Jesus to heaven’s glory. The restoration of celebrating the sacraments of initiation (also, called the “Easter Sacraments”) is a great blessing in our church. It may take several generations for us who learned to look at Lent the old way to change our thinking and connect it with our rising with Christ today. But then again, we have Lent next year. Lent is only a reminder of what we are to be about every day – dying to sin and self-centeredness and living for God.
St. Ignatius of Loyola probably invites us to ask ourselves the most important question each year as we begin the season of Lent – if not every day: “Lord, is there one more thing that I can do for You?” It’s a daring question because Jesus might tell us that He wants us to do more than give up Cokes, candy, and other food items. He may tell us to let go of a grudge; to forgive; to make peace; visit someone in the nursing home we haven’t taken time for in a while; or spend more family time. Most people on their death beds rarely say, “I wish I had spent more time working; rather, I wish I had spent more time with loved ones.”
During this entire Easter Season until Pentecost, our parish families are called to welcome our new members. In doing this, we welcome Christ Jesus, ever ancient and ever new. In the coming weeks, I will share some ideas of how parishes can help our new members feel more at home and how our new members can inspire us who have been hard at it following Christ for many years.
“Christ has been raised! Indeed Christ is risen and is alive!”
