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This spirit of repentance is continued in Lenten
acts of penance, self-denial, and spiritual renewal that help remove
obstacles to growth in our relationship with Jesus as well as providing us
spiritual food for thought and prayer to nourish us as we grow. Lenten acts
of devotion, such as the Stations of the Cross, and other meditations like
the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary help us to remember daily what Jesus
did for us on Calvary.
If we embrace the spirit of Lent and we allow
its message to permeate our lives, then we will begin to really appreciate
the joy that is proper to Easter. A conscientious observance of Lent keeps
us from being gate-crashers at the Easter Party! The phenomenon of folks
showing up only for Christmas and Easter, or the phenomenon of folks
ignoring the preparation seasons Advent and Lent all betray people who are
spiritually ignorant, immature, and uncommitted. Cultural Catholicism, or
religious window-dressing, is not faith. Celebrating the seasons alone will
not get us into the Kingdom of Heaven, for even the best things can be
misused, however, allowing the power of the Seasons to influence our daily
lives, to challenge us, to call us out of ourselves, to confront us with our
own inadequacies, to chastise us, and ultimately to console us will
transform our faith into a living active force that will enable us to live
holy lives and to overcome the challenges that life brings.
Living Lent in preparation for Easter will help
us to see every sorrow in our lives as a Good Friday Crucifixion waiting to
be transformed into an Easter Sunday Resurrection! Recent events such as the
Tsunami disaster, the continued fighting in Iraq, the genocide in the Sudan,
the ongoing violence in American city streets, and so many other ills remind
us that the world desperately needs a spiritual revival. Recent trends such
as the immoral crusades to redefine marriage and to legitimize immoral
sexual behavior, point to a complete abandonment of Christian values. Gross
consumerism and the tendency to make gods of athletes and entertainers and
their obscene salaries show that the Kingdom of God is not being sought
first. The loss of an authentic understanding of marriage as a life-long,
sacrificial union between a man and a woman that is ordered to the begetting
of new life, and not a selfish contract designed to provide larger incomes
while avoiding having children tell us that the Gospel of Christ needs to be
re-preached to those who call themselves Christian. The wholesale slaughter
of innocent babies in their mothers' wombs through legalized abortion and
the silence of believers who continue to actively support those who refuse
the protection of law to the unborn show that Christ is still being
crucified every day.
If we Catholics do not take this Lenten call to
repentance and conversion seriously; if we do not see in it God's wake-up
call to us so that we might be instruments for the healing and salvation of
the world, then our Easter will be just another show, all fluff no
substance, and it will disappear from the scene as quickly as it appeared. I
pray that the call to conversion will be heard by us all and responded to
accordingly so that our Easter "Alleluia!" will be an authentic hymn of
praise to the glory and honor of God and a sign of our dedication to the
authentic good of our brothers and sisters in need.
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