This coming Wednesday, once again we embark upon the sacred season of Lent, that 40-day journey to Easter wherein the Church provides us with an annual opportunity to take stock of our lives, to root out that which is not good and true, and to replace it with attitudes and behavior which reflect God's loving plan for us.
In these 40 days, the Church turns to the ancient penitential practices of fasting, alms-giving and prayers. These practices remain as rich and life-giving in 2000 as they were when practiced by the early Christians and by our Jewish forebears:
* Fasting reminds us of our hunger for God which no worldly things can satisfy.
* Alms-giving reminds us that love of God and love of neighbor are inextricably intertwined, and that we bear responsibility for one another.
* Prayer reminds us to center our lives on God, who is our destiny and who alone gives meaning to all we do.
Jubilee and Lent
This Lent is particularly special because it takes place during the Great Jubilee 2000, a year of the Lord's favor. Jubilee is a time of forgiveness, reconciliation, healing and liberation from all that binds us.
The liturgies and the devotions of Lent call us to kind of a spiritual spring cleaning: identifying relationships which are disordered and sins that imprison, and, then, seeking forgiveness and healing. We strive to root out the darkness of sin so that we can celebrate the Easter mysteries with a clean heart, bathed in the life-giving light of Christ.
As reminders on our way, we follow the catechumens and candidates for full communion with the Church as they immerse themselves in the final period of preparation for receiving the Easter sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. Indeed, they recall for us that ongoing conversion which is at the heart of the Christian life, and, hopefully, our prayers, support and example will inspire them as they learn more about our faith community and engage in the solemn period of purification and enlightenment which the Lenten season accords.
Doors to Christ
The theme of the Great Jubilee 2000 offers an appropriate guide for walking the road of Lent this year, namely, "Open wide the doors to Christ."
Now, doors are about passage from one kind of human activity to another. To go on a gurney through a sliding door into a birthing room is to pass over into becoming a lifegiver. To pass through the front door of a house into the foyer of a home is to go from being kind of an outsider to becoming kind of an insider. To go through a door into the death chamber of a high-security prison is to pass over into the final human activity.
Doors are also about access. Credential-bearing diplomats are ushered through the doors of heads of state to be presented as ambassadors of their nations. College students enter the doors of academe, which open for them the unlimited opportunities higher education can afford. So, too, the doors of Head Start can be the gateway to a lifetime of learning, growing and succeeding.
And the message of Lent is that our human flesh has become a door -- a way of access to God, a passageway from hopeless frustration born of sinfulness and selfishness to the hope-filled expectancy which Christ's triumph over sin and death proclaims. Yes, because Jesus passed through the door of death to rise gloriously on Easter Sunday, so, too, we His followers can pass through the door of grace into the mystery of God's eternal plan for our salvation.
Jesus in focus
Jesus, then, must be the focus of our Lenten observance:
* He is the door to freedom for us imprisoned by our pride, our arrogance, our greed and our lust.
* He is the liberator for us oppressed by the rampant consumerism, secularism, racism, sexism, individualism and moral relativism of our contemporary culture.
* He is the light for us blinded by our hatred and prejudices, our grudges and resentments.
* He is the Good News for us enslaved by the bonds of addiction to alcohol or drugs; by the misuse of the gift of our sexuality; by the exploitation of our environment and the world's natural resources; by the tragedy of abortion, infanticide, physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia and capital punishment; and by our tolerance of grinding poverty and of demoralizing social injustice and inequality in a land of affluence and opportunity unparalleled in the history of humankind.
Widen our hearts
This Lent, we are called to open wide the doors of our hearts to Christ. This will require an honest appraisal of ourselves, a process to which we rarely submit ourselves because of apathy, indifference or, more likely, because of our fear.
We are afraid to look at our failures and our sins. Like so many in first-century Israel, we, too, have hardened our hearts and, hence, are not prepared to recognize Jesus among us and to hear His call to conversion and renewal.
However, the most frequent phrase uttered by God in the Scriptures is "Be not afraid." That phrase appears 365 times. Let this, then, be the year when we hear and heed this message:
* If we have stopped attending church or go only sporadically, then this Lent is a time to return to regular practice.
* If we have been wounded by a negative experience with our spiritual family, the Church, because, for example, Baptism, marriage or absolution were denied, or because a sick family member was not visited, or because a remark by someone in authority in the Church was perceived as hurtful or insulting, or because a disagreement with one or another Church teaching has risen, then this Lent is the time to take the steps to experience healing and reconciliation.
Unfortunately, too often we can be very stubborn and pigheaded. We can get angry and stay angry. At times, the anger leads to loneliness and depression. In all instances, it fosters hurt, pain and alienation. This Lent and this Holy Year, then, should be a time for us to reach out, to heal wounds, to resolve differences and to begin afresh.
* Finally, and perhaps most important, this Lent should also be a time to forgive ourselves. All too frequently, we can get really down on ourselves, perceiving that we are a terrible failure, feeling that we have fallen short of the cherished hopes, dreams and expectations that we have for ourselves or that others have for us.
But the message of Christ's passion, death and resurrection is that God loves us totally, completely and unconditionally. God loves us not for what we possess or what we do, but simply for who we are, with all of our warts, imperfections and shortcomings.
There is no mistake that we have made that is unpardonable. There is no evil deed we have done that cannot be undone. There is no opportunity we have missed that need be missed permanently.
Everything can be recaptured! We can begin anew! We can start fresh! All we need do is to open wide the doors of our heart to Christ, who died for our sins and who by His Resurrection burst forever the bonds of evil and death. If we do, His gifts of healing and forgiveness will be ours.
Opportunity
Will we, then, hear and understand the message? Will we take the opportunity this Lent and Holy Year afford to grow deeper in the way of Christ? What in us needs saving? What in us is a serious obstacle to a closer relationship with God? What in us needs to change if we are to be apostles of the Good News?
This Lent, may we seize the opportunity to address these fundamental questions, to wrestle honestly with them and to resolve them constructively so that we can celebrate the Easter Feast with minds and hearts renewed, fully open and responsive to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.