Hitting the Lenten Reset Button
Today the Church begins the annual season of Lent, when we communally as Christians recognize that we have turned away from God and choose to begin the journey home. Lent, in many ways, is like hitting the reset button on our computer. When our lives become burdened with sin and frozen in complacency, we are called to make a new beginning. For the Christian community, that reset takes 40 days and unlike a computer reset it involves more than simply waiting on our part.
The season of Lent calls us to recognize where we have fallen short of living with Christian joy in communion with God and the Church. There are three central tasks that are essential during this holy season: prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Prayer is important to us as Christians because it is in prayer that we strengthen our relationship with God. We are called as Christians to be holy as the Father is holy. The only way to become like someone is to spend time getting to know them, listening and conversing. Prayer is that time taken to continue deepening our friendship with God.
Fasting is more than simply giving up something for Lent, or abstaining from meat on Friday. Fasting is about emptying ourselves of our own selfishness and egos, so that we can place more and more of our trust in God so as to filled by Him. It also should lead to recognizing the needs of others which leads us to…..
Almsgiving should remind us of the words of St. James who once said, “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.” (James 1:22) We are called every day to not only speak about our faith, but to demonstrate that we believe in its truth. As our current bishop regularly reminds us, we should seek to be the face of Jesus to others.
I encourage you today to join me in this forty day process of resetting our lives as Christians. We will no doubt encounter frequent temptations and obstacles along the way. The key to Lent, however, is not perfection but rather persistence. Let us strive to help one another in our attempt to turn back to the Lord with our whole heart.
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