"The Lord assesses our worth not by the number or volume of our works, but by the method in which we carry them out"

 

Lent is connected with commitment for many people: giving up something one enjoys for the season, refraining from meat on Fridays, and fasting on specific dates. Over the years, these types of voluntary self-denial have served the Christian faithful well as a collection of practices that help us break free from our everyday routines and ordinary lives in order to renew ourselves in embodying the Gospel.

But, in a time of global pandemic, what does it mean to approach the penitential season of Lent in a time when nearly everyone has experienced involuntary self-denial ranging from the prohibition of travel and leisure activities to imposed distance from loved ones and family members, including the tragedy of not being with loved ones in person as they left this world at the end of their lives?

For certain, imposing more duties on oneself or others under the pretense of "spiritual rebirth" is harsh or, at this point in history, an invitation to masochism. And I sympathize with that viewpoint. This is especially true when asceticism is seen as a means to an end rather than a means to a greater end — when the conventional Lenten triad of fasting, repentance, and almsgiving is seen as a form of "punishment" rather than an opportunity to shift one's attention, energies, and priorities from the mundane to the spiritually transformative.

We're spotlighting those who have shared their Lenten traditions and memories with us. Their providing interesting from the religious and traditional to the innovative and unusual, but they all represent attempts to make Lent a meaningful time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving for themselves, their loved ones, and their communities. Invite family members to talk about their Lent plans, goals, and desires. Decide to back each other up in anything you decide to undertake. Remember that each step gets you closer to our loving God's embracing arms as you travel through this annual second chance.

"Lent stimulates us to let the Word of God penetrate our life and in this way to know the fundamental truth: Who we are, where we come from, where we must go, what path we must take in life."  -Pope Benedict XVI