40 Days and 40 Nights: A Lenten Letter

40 Days and 40 Nights:

A Lenten Letter.

This past Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent; 40 days and 40 nights leading up to the death of our Lord, Jesus. My parish priest explained Lent as a time of sacrifice, repentance, and almsgiving. I found this to be enlightening; his outlook on Lent was refreshing. He made me realize that I had been looking at Lent all wrong, and I'd like to share this experience with you.

New Perspective

The way I had looked at Lent before was as a time of sacrifice, which is correct, but I was still regarding it in the wrong sense of the words. A time of sacrifice, yet not the type of sacrifice I was envisioning. The type of sacrifice I had always seen was me giving something up as repentance for all past (and present... and future) wrongdoings. But I didn't realize that there were other types of sacrifice beyond the physical or self-denying. In fact, one of the greatest ways to sacrifice is to give to others, if only in increments of time. This is the almsgiving Father talked about. Sometimes, we take our time for granted, and sometimes we hoard it all to ourselves. What better way to break ourselves of these selfish habits than to share it with others, whether family, friend, or stranger. I know that I will try my best to sacrifice my time to others, and hopefully you will also be inspired to do so.

Time for Celebration

Lent tends to be a dreary time of the year for me, in several ways. Aesthetically, the snow is melting and everything is wet and muddy; depressing, right? And then just the season itself. Lent has none of the excitement Advent does as it leads up to Christmas; Lent, instead of Christ's birth, is leading up to Christ's death. Not exactly upbeat, now is it? Actually, it is. Who would've thought death could be so joyful? Yet, it is. It is because we know that Jesus gave His life on the cross for our spiritual freedom. It is because we know that without His sacrifice, we would be lost. It is because we know that, in three days, He will rise again, unharmed. So, in the past, I have been wrong. Lent is actually a time for celebration. True, it is our fault He must die on the cross. However, while we must feel sorry for our sins, we should focus more on the fact that we may now enter into Heaven and stay there with our Lord.

  

Feed the body; feed the soul

Lent is a good time to get closer to our Lord, and there are many good ways to do so. My two favorites are praying the rosary and reading the Bible. Let's start with the rosary. One indication that praying the rosary is good for you is that Mary asks us to pray it, and it contains the Our Father, which Jesus tells us to pray. After I pray the rosary, I always feel as though a huge load of weight is lifted of my chest. I can't explain it, really. It just takes the pressure away.

Then, as for reading the Bible, it's God's word and Jesus' teachings. Why wouldn't it be good for your spiritual life? I understand, however, that reading the Good Book can be a dry, uninteresting task. Therefore, I have some suggestions that point to the more interesting parts of God's word.

Psalms: Ah, sweet music. When you read the psalms (Psalms 1, 4, and 23 are some of my favorites.), try to imagine music being played along to the lyrics. It definitely helps to make them more interesting.

Proverbs: The book that comes after Psalms in most Bibles. The nice thing about Proverbs is that it is a series of very short sayings and teachings that are easy to read and usually easy to understand. Very little thinking is required here.

The Gospel According to Mark: For the New Testament, Mark is a good way to go. First of all, it is the shortest of all the canonical gospels and, in my opinion, one of the easiest to follow. If you are looking for the Wisdom of Jesus, this is a good place to start.

The Revelations of John: As my last suggestion, I present to you the Book of the Apocalypse. I am honestly surprised that this book has not been made into a movie. It is a gory, horrific, and violent recount of the end of the world as presented by God. But, as it is the end of the world, who would expect otherwise? For an engaging, interesting, yet spiritual piece of literature, look no further.

So now, when you feel the need for spiritual nourishment, you have an inkling of where to look. May the words in red guide you home.

Well, there you have it. My Lenten letter. Hopefully it has inspired you, or at least interested you. If you only take away the meaning of one thing, just remember that through God, anything is possible. Through God, mountains will be moved.

Peace in Christ,

    Ian James.