Welcome Dear Feast of Lent
Eileen Clare Grant writes about this special season of grace, Stephen Watt continues his series on why we should be more interested in Philosophy and Dr Carolyn Macnamara engages looks at St Patrick.
This week Eileen Clare Grant gives us a short summary of Lent, Stephen Watt continues his new series Athens to Glasgow and Dr Carolyn Macnamara writes about St Patrick and engaging in historical sources. If you take a scan of our website every so often you will see a few articles we don’t email you directly, including; our piece on St John Ogilvie, St Duthac - one of the most important lesser known Saints you will ever learn about and of course the rest of our March Saints.
“Welcome, dear feast of Lent” (G. Herbert). Lent is a feast for the soul, one of God’s gifts to us: a special time when He gives us another chance to live as we should be living; when we can make extra efforts to live the Christ-life, conforming our lives to his by disciplining our bodies and minds; by more fervent prayer, listening more eagerly for God to speak to us; by giving more generously of ourselves to others. By these means we make our whole selves – body, mind and soul – fit to greet the Risen Lord at Easter.
Fasting: If we see food as a gift from God (Give us each day…), depriving ourselves of some food can become a religious act, signifying our dependence on God. Think of Jesus’ fast in the wilderness: it wasn’t motivated by a desire to gain some spiritual ‘goody’ but to prepare him for his mission by an act of confident, willing surrender to his Father. So, his time in the wilderness was spent in prayer, dialogue with his Father, resisting the temptations of his humanity, disciplining both body and soul for what lay ahead. Lent is our time in the wilderness.
When we “give up something” for Lent, it shouldn’t be a mere token, in the knowledge that we’ll be able to indulge ourselves on Easter Sunday; nor an “ascetical adventure”, in the hope of religious exaltation. It’s not a way of punishing ourselves, but a means of “humbling one’s soul” (Lev 16), disciplining one’s body, joined to prayer, expressing our creaturely humility before God. Any sacrifice must be offered willingly and joyfully. If it makes you ‘crabbit’ don’t do it! Charity should always prevail. We can give up other pleasures: a TV programme, a social outing, “pointless conversation”, sleep – get up an hour earlier for prayer. What about switching off our mobile phones in public? There’s a real deprivation! Lent is a time when we can exercise our imaginations.
Almsgiving: Christian almsgiving is about more than just “giving to charity”; we should desire to help the poor and needy in relation to God’s love for all, revealed especially on Calvary. When we help our needy neighbour because we see Christ in him, we draw closer to Christ and become more like him. Our almsgiving should be disinterested, “without expecting anything in return”: “your almsgiving must be secret and your Father who sees all that is done will reward you in secret” (Mt 6:4). We should “give to the weak and the poor what we refuse to spend on our own pleasures” (St Leo) for almsgiving and fasting “are the two wings on which prayer mounts up to God” (St Augustine).
Almsgiving doesn’t have to involve money; we give what we can: more generously of ourselves to others, especially those more deprived than we are, more unhappy, more alone – not just in material ways, but really giving of ourselves: our time, our prayers, our love. Spending time with the lonely or reaching out to the outcast are just two ways of imitating Christ in this season.
Prayer: we should, of course, be people of prayer at all times but, during Lent, we can try to make our prayer more fervent. We are given this chance to come even closer to the Lord, by setting aside additional periods of prayer time – for ourselves, that we may be more able to do the Father’s will; for those in need, physically and spiritually, that their sufferings may be eased or that they too may grow closer to God; for those we actually dislike or find difficult, that we may come to see Christ in them more clearly; for those who do not believe, that the light of Christ may shine in their hearts. Praying for our ‘enemies’ is a sure way of imitating Christ and can be a path to healing ourselves as well as our troubled relationships. We can also set aside time to listen to God, by prayerful reading of Scripture or other spiritual writings.
Conversion: “Come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning!” says our God. Our prayer, almsgiving and fasting should all be done in love, for love of God, known only to God, for He looks at the heart and will not spurn “a humbled, contrite heart”. Lent is a time of conversion, of turning back fully towards God; of making peace; of forgiving others as we are forgiven by our Father. “Beloved, remove the causes of discord and the thorns of enmity. Let hatred cease and rivalries disappear, and let all the members of Christ meet in loving unity” (St Leo).
Lent is a time of caring for our souls, of ‘spring-cleaning’ the temple of the indwelling God. It is the time when we are given a chance to repair breaches in love, to build bridges, to ‘put things right’ with God and neighbour.
Above all, we should not be miserable, even in these difficult times, but should think always of Lent in the light of Easter. It should not be thought of as a gloomy time, when we ‘punish’ ourselves or feel that God expects more than we are able to give. It is a time of hope, of faith, and of joy as we look forward, ever more eagerly, more breathlessly, to that wonderful moment when we can cry again: Christ is risen!
Eileen Clare Grant