Preparing for Lent

I will be revisiting my experience of the spiritual exercises in my preparation for Easter. I believe the important thing about Lent is that it is not an endurance test but a way of helping us to encounter God. The essential ways of doing this are very traditional but also very profound. We are called to pray, fast, and give alms. These are not simply external actions they are called to flow from our own encounter with God. How we imagine God to be will shape these three actions. We are called to encounter God as God  is. This encounter needs to be honest and it calls us to reflect on how our lives seek to respond to God. Our prayer, therefore, needs to come before God as we are not as we think we should be. There is no point in putting masks on before God. We need to be honest and true about where we are up to in our lives. I hope that during this Lenten Season I may be able to share some of the ways that I have prayed that help me to take off those masks.
We also need to recognize those things that draw us into the light. Too often we can lives which are not reflective, where we just move from pillar to post. The call for fasting helps us to recognize those things or activities which do not bring life to others. It calls us to be people who are able to acknowledge the things that we do that can lead to dead ends and which lessen our ability to understand how God is present in all things.

Lastly, we are called to be people who do not live lives which are directed solely to our own interests. We are called to be people who share lives for the good of others. We are called to be people who live out the commandment to love God with all our hearts, mind, soul and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves. We are called to be people who share our lives for the good of others. Always remember that Lent is not a solitary activity it is part of the mission of the Church. We are called to travel together.