Out Into The Wilderness
Happy Pancake Tuesday!
Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Tomorrow, we begin the season of Lent, the period for us as Christians, where we prepare ourselves for the great celebration of the Paschal Triduum, also known as the Easter Triduum. The liturgical colour for this season is Purple, which symbolises that the Church is in a period of preparation.
For many of us, myself included, Lent often appears to be a season where we are called to give something up, be it meat, sweet drinks, chocolates, or even cursing, merely as an act of repentance. There is a danger that Lent can seem to be a time where we are called to do penance, merely to appease an angry God. And while it is true that we are called to Repent and turn our hearts back to the Lord during the season of Lent, it is never for the purpose of appeasing an angry God. It's always about connecting with a loving and merciful God. This could possibly be why until recent years, I was never able to stick to my Lenten observances. Appeasing an angry God made no sense to me, especially with the knowledge that God is love. God is good, and he is ever ready to forgive. There is no need to appease an angry God. Of course, that's not to say that we should take his love and mercy for granted. We certainly should not.
So why do we fast then? Why do we give earthly things up for Lent? Let me give an analogy. For many of us, when we know that we are going to have a big meal, perhaps a buffet, for dinner, we would skip our meals during the day, in hopes to save space in our tummies, so that we can truly enjoy indulging at dinner. We would arrive at the buffet feeling famished, and we would be able to free ourselves to eat as much as we want. By choosing to fast during the day, we would have the stomach space to feast, to indulge, and to really get the best of our money's worth from the buffet feast. This is what I do every Christmas Eve.
Using this analogy, it is precisely for this reason that that we fast on Fridays, even outside the season of Lent. The practice of fasting on Fridays helps us to prepare for the great feast on Sunday, the celebration of the Paschal Mystery. By denying ourselves from earthly food, or from earthly desires, we prepare our hearts and our bodies, to hunger for our heavenly food from the great feast on Sunday, both from the table of the Word, and from the table of the Eucharist.
Similarly, during this season of Lent, we are called to fast, to give something up, so as to prepare for the great "feast". We are called to make room in our lives, so that we can experience the full measure of Love at the feast. However, this "feast" that we are called to prepare for, is the greatest of the great, the celebration of the Paschal Triduum! It is the full celebration of our entire story of salvation, and it celebrates the Paschal Mystery in full. The Passion, the Death, and the Ressurection of Jesus Christ. It's a celebration that is so rich, and so great, that it lasts for three whole days! In fact, what we celebrate on Sundays is merely a summary of the Paschal Triduum. This is why the Church calls for a period of preparation for 40 days, to prepare our hearts and our bodies to indulge in this great feast.
And the basic way to prepare for this great celebration by the three pillars of Lent: Fasting, Almsgiving, and Prayer.
We fast to make room in our lives for God to enter. We deny ourselves earthly food so that we can make room to indulge in our Heavenly Food.
We give alms to share what we have with others. Like it is written in the Franciscan Peace Prayer, it's in giving that we receive (and no, St. Francis never actually said that). We give of ourselves, of our generosity, and our love, so that we will have room to receive from God all that he wants to give us during this season, and especially during the great celebration.
And most importantly, we pray. We converse with God, we take the time to simply be with God, to keep our relationship with God alive! Nobody who goes to a party can fully enjoy it if he barely talks to the people who will be at the party. Similarly, if we barely talk to God, we cannot fully enjoy the celebration that we have been invited to. In this way, Lent is also an excellent time for us to deepen our relationship with the Lord. It's also an excellent time to mend our relationship with him, through the sacrament of Reconciliation.
It is not going to be easy for us to stick to our Lenten observances (especially for me as I'm giving up Meat this year). Spoiler alert: we are going to fall into temptation, just like how Jesus was tempted by the devil during his 40 days in the wilderness. The devil does seem to work overtime during Lent. However, by remembering that we are giving up earthly desires receive something even greater, that we are called to give to others so that we can receive, and by keeping our relationship with the Lord alive, perhaps we can be more motivated to stick to them, so that we can fully experience the heights and the depths of his love at the end of this Lenten Journey.
And if you, like myself, are bad at self-restraining, perhaps it would be good to find someone to be accountable to. Someone who is a true friend, who will challenge you, encourage you, and who you can be accountable to for each time you feel tempted, and each time you fall.
Heigh Ho! Heigh Ho! It's off to Lent we go...
Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Tomorrow, we begin the season of Lent, the period for us as Christians, where we prepare ourselves for the great celebration of the Paschal Triduum, also known as the Easter Triduum. The liturgical colour for this season is Purple, which symbolises that the Church is in a period of preparation.
For many of us, myself included, Lent often appears to be a season where we are called to give something up, be it meat, sweet drinks, chocolates, or even cursing, merely as an act of repentance. There is a danger that Lent can seem to be a time where we are called to do penance, merely to appease an angry God. And while it is true that we are called to Repent and turn our hearts back to the Lord during the season of Lent, it is never for the purpose of appeasing an angry God. It's always about connecting with a loving and merciful God. This could possibly be why until recent years, I was never able to stick to my Lenten observances. Appeasing an angry God made no sense to me, especially with the knowledge that God is love. God is good, and he is ever ready to forgive. There is no need to appease an angry God. Of course, that's not to say that we should take his love and mercy for granted. We certainly should not.
So why do we fast then? Why do we give earthly things up for Lent? Let me give an analogy. For many of us, when we know that we are going to have a big meal, perhaps a buffet, for dinner, we would skip our meals during the day, in hopes to save space in our tummies, so that we can truly enjoy indulging at dinner. We would arrive at the buffet feeling famished, and we would be able to free ourselves to eat as much as we want. By choosing to fast during the day, we would have the stomach space to feast, to indulge, and to really get the best of our money's worth from the buffet feast. This is what I do every Christmas Eve.
Using this analogy, it is precisely for this reason that that we fast on Fridays, even outside the season of Lent. The practice of fasting on Fridays helps us to prepare for the great feast on Sunday, the celebration of the Paschal Mystery. By denying ourselves from earthly food, or from earthly desires, we prepare our hearts and our bodies, to hunger for our heavenly food from the great feast on Sunday, both from the table of the Word, and from the table of the Eucharist.
Similarly, during this season of Lent, we are called to fast, to give something up, so as to prepare for the great "feast". We are called to make room in our lives, so that we can experience the full measure of Love at the feast. However, this "feast" that we are called to prepare for, is the greatest of the great, the celebration of the Paschal Triduum! It is the full celebration of our entire story of salvation, and it celebrates the Paschal Mystery in full. The Passion, the Death, and the Ressurection of Jesus Christ. It's a celebration that is so rich, and so great, that it lasts for three whole days! In fact, what we celebrate on Sundays is merely a summary of the Paschal Triduum. This is why the Church calls for a period of preparation for 40 days, to prepare our hearts and our bodies to indulge in this great feast.
And the basic way to prepare for this great celebration by the three pillars of Lent: Fasting, Almsgiving, and Prayer.
We fast to make room in our lives for God to enter. We deny ourselves earthly food so that we can make room to indulge in our Heavenly Food.
We give alms to share what we have with others. Like it is written in the Franciscan Peace Prayer, it's in giving that we receive (and no, St. Francis never actually said that). We give of ourselves, of our generosity, and our love, so that we will have room to receive from God all that he wants to give us during this season, and especially during the great celebration.
And most importantly, we pray. We converse with God, we take the time to simply be with God, to keep our relationship with God alive! Nobody who goes to a party can fully enjoy it if he barely talks to the people who will be at the party. Similarly, if we barely talk to God, we cannot fully enjoy the celebration that we have been invited to. In this way, Lent is also an excellent time for us to deepen our relationship with the Lord. It's also an excellent time to mend our relationship with him, through the sacrament of Reconciliation.
It is not going to be easy for us to stick to our Lenten observances (especially for me as I'm giving up Meat this year). Spoiler alert: we are going to fall into temptation, just like how Jesus was tempted by the devil during his 40 days in the wilderness. The devil does seem to work overtime during Lent. However, by remembering that we are giving up earthly desires receive something even greater, that we are called to give to others so that we can receive, and by keeping our relationship with the Lord alive, perhaps we can be more motivated to stick to them, so that we can fully experience the heights and the depths of his love at the end of this Lenten Journey.
And if you, like myself, are bad at self-restraining, perhaps it would be good to find someone to be accountable to. Someone who is a true friend, who will challenge you, encourage you, and who you can be accountable to for each time you feel tempted, and each time you fall.
Heigh Ho! Heigh Ho! It's off to Lent we go...
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