THE TIMING OF THE SEASON OF LENT

Meditation for Ash Wednesday, 2023
(Joel 2:12-18; 2 Cor 5:20-6:2; Mt 6:1-6, 16-18)

The season of lent often comes as a package that is never anticipated but, all the same, it is warmly received. Unlike Advent and Christmas seasons, we usually do not look forward to lent. However, the silence and solemnity that becloud the season envelops our hearts, and we step into it with great determination. Thus, we do not go to meet Lent, rather, Lent comes to meet us! It is a unique and outstanding liturgical season in the Church, endowed with a highly formative spirituality that is hinged on the call for prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

The timing of the season of lent is timely! It is described as a ‘veritable time’, a ‘time of favor.’ The message and observances that are clustered in lent are not exclusive to the season. This is where some non-Catholics mistakenly think that Catholics observe fasting only during lent. At lent, we practice the observances, not just as individuals, but as the Body of Christ, the Church. Here, obedience goes ahead of our sacrifices. At this time, the Church leads, we learn and follow at the same time. Just as time is a continuum, and the liturgical seasons are not exclusive to each other, so also the observances of the 40 days of lent energize us onwards. The season of lent is ever timely for it comes to renew our commitment to the core values of our Christian life by redirecting our gaze to the cross of Christ.  

 

“But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast” (Mt 9:15). Think about such emptiness when Jesus, the Bridegroom, is not present. Sometimes our choices and actions make our hearts, homes, church and society unconducive for Jesus to settle in. Our fasting, prayer and almsgiving become practical expressions of our inner yearning for salvation in Christ Jesus. Meditate on how much Jesus wants to be part of our lives, families, and communities. Thus, it is timely that we should set aside this time of lent to deny ourselves of empty desires, repent of our waywardness, and align our heart desires with Jesus’ thirst for us from the cross. The eternal desire of Jesus for our salvation makes every Lenten season timely.

 

Oh! What a beautiful time lent is? It is a time of fasting and abstinence that satisfies the heart. Lent is colored with silence and solemnity, yet it drums joy and peace to the heart. As we kick off this season with ashes on our foreheads, the 40 days appear to be stretched forward, but at Easter, we appreciate every bit of the journey. Think about the beauty of a penitent Church, wrapped in contrition, and kneeling with Mary at the foot of the cross. There is no better time to make amends than now. “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos,

Wednesday February 22, 2023

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