Why Lent?

Why not Lent? may be the better question. The Church for 2000 years has observed a forty day period of fasting, prayer and giving to the poor which is concluded by the celebration of the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord. Jesus himself fasted and prayed and called on us to die to ourselves and carry our cross. Lent is a time we focus on how our sins caused his wounds. We take time to review how we have been living our Christian lives. We pray more, we give more, we allow ourselves to be taken out of our comfort zone for 40 days. We ask the Holy Spirit to speak to us through our fasts and prayer. We remember our own mortality and our need for ongoing conversion .

During Mass today, the priest applied ashes on our foreheads and intoned "Remember, O Man, that you are from dust and to dust you shall return." It puts it all in perspective for us. Where we came from and where we are going and how we need Him to get there.

I think of how I spent most of my Christian life oblivious to Lent, bemused by my in-laws (good Lutherans) giving up sweets etc. I thought Christ had freed me from such religious practices, but I was enslaved by my own inability to give up anything or practice any self-mortification. Check out Prodigal Daughter's most excellent post on Lent here.

Like many Catholic bloggers, I'm going to back- off the internet and post less frequently during Lent. God be with all of you during these next 40 days.


For some tips on making this Lent the best ever, check out Catholicity's Lenten message.