These traditions afford us an opportunity to free ourselves from distraction and also deepen our awareness of Christ in our lives by attempting to remain focused on His voice calling to us.
There is more to this season than simple abstinence, fasting and almsgiving.
These give us moments to practice this Season's discipline within tradition but there is more to this holy time than these practices.
It is a time for us to admit humbly that we need God. We have a personal, intimate need for Him in our day to day lives. The ashes on our foreheads remind us that "we are dust." We did not bring ourselves into this world and we cannot, despite all we hear, keep ourselves alive in this world with God. To get in touch with our "nothingness" is the greatest challenge. Never before have we been so tempted to believe that we are the sole Masters of our destiny. Each and ever day we are bombarded with thye message that we can have whatever we want and whenever we would like it. We are an entitled people, my dear friends.
I find myself again and again returning to the need to pray and reflect on the central mystery of what these weeks of Lent lead up too: the Redemptive act of Jesus' love for the world and of Our Father.
If I am going to live as a Christian in the world, I must have a solid appreciation for the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ. I must be able to find myself again and again in that narrative, that story, that experience, that mystery.
I must never give up hope that my Lord's Redeeming love is not finished with me and with our world. I am given chances every day to practice that mystery. I am challenged to forgive both myself and my friend. Like Jesus, I can never forgive enough.
It begins with my acknowledging that I need God. It then challenges me to revisit what I have grown blind, deaf and accepting of in my life: the poor, the suffering, the violence, the apathy, the cursing, the despair, the value of permanent and faithful love between all persons - gay or straight. These name a few - there are many more. What more can I find if I just invite Jesus to invigorate me this Lenten Season?
My friends, follow the dicipline of our Faith and renounce sin, fast, pray and give to the poor. Please do not let it end there. Help me to make this Season one of real and lasting growth, by not settling for what worked in the past. It is not just a time of denial, but of action.
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