Ash Wednesday

So this is Lent. Growing up, I always dreaded Lent because I felt forced to do things I would not in my right mind freely choose unless I was bribed or threatened. In my mind as a child, Lent was most significantly the season when grownups demanded a lot of strange things all in the name of God and religion. They demanded of us (and of themselves, which didn’t make much sense since we knew they could just as easily do otherwise, although a few joined in reluctantly) that we make less noise (meaning “less loud music and loud talking”), that we pray and reflect more (meaning “be even more quiet”), that we perform more acts of self-denial and mortification (meaning “less whining and complaining”), that we adopt a more subdued demeanor and attitude (meaning “less goofing around,” “wearing more sensible clothing” and “exhibiting less repulsive behavior”), that we fast (meaning “we leave the table a little hungry” and “snack less”), that we abstain from beef and chicken on Fridays of Lent (meaning “we eat more vegetables or fish”), that we set aside some of our allowance for the poor (meaning “less impulse shopping” and “eating everything off your plate for the hungry children on the other side of the planet”). To this mix they would add some traditional Lenten practices: giving up sweets, desserts, chocolate, TV, entertainment, road trips, amusement parks, zoos and museums, eating out and anything fun. As a child, it was a hardship to give up any of these things. But don’t ever tell grownups to give up coffee, smoking, or swearing. Instead, they would substitute religious activities like reading the bible more, spending more time in church either going to services or just sitting in quiet prayer, picking up a book on the life of a saint, praying the rosary, the way of the cross; in short, more kneeling, more church, more pain, more suffering, less fun and games, all because this is what Catholics did. I’m certainly not implying this was all bad. With the proper focus, it can actually make for a meaningful Lent. It may have contributed to a healthy faith life in my own adulthood. Exactly how, let me tell you.

The scripture readings proper to the Lenten season are often about change. Understood properly, the change scripture speaks of is interior and personal, a change of heart, of attitude, of purpose, a return to God and the ways of God by rejecting our own selfish and sinful ways, a rejection of our bad habits and bad patterns of behavior. We can all safely admit we have work to do. Only perfect people would see no need to change anything about themselves, much less have any need for God’s mercy and forgiveness. And when we recognize our weakness, our need to reorder our priorities, our need to reconcile with God and with one another, we often resort to specific changes in the way we do things, the way we speak, the way we interact with others. Sometimes we express this change externally by altering our appearance, not too drastically, just by toning things down a notch. We still laugh, but not too loud. We still spend money, but not extravagantly. We still talk about other people behind their backs, but not as often or as viciously. Again, these may be good things considering what we would be doing if we didn’t bother with Lent. But we know it can all be so shallow and truly without consequence in our spiritual advancement.

You may already be guessing what’s missing. Inner change, an honest decision to rid ourselves once and for all of those things in our lives which move us away from God. Some of us will probably arrive at Easter knowing we struggled hard with our evil inclinations and selfish tendencies. But if all we did was change the way we dress, how we spent our money or what we ate, there is a good chance come Easter, we will find ourselves returning back to our former way of being and doing things. Most of the things we give up for Lent (like chocolate, caffeine, sugar, trash TV, Amazon, gossiping, criticizing, that extra donut) and most of the extra things we take on (like more prayer, more bible reading, more church activities) come Easter Sunday we won’t think twice about setting aside and returning to life as it was before Lent. If it was truly an honest move toward becoming a better person, why even think of going back? Is our former way of life that much better for our spiritual growth? A friend of mine once told me about a weight program she went on. She didn’t call it a diet. She called it a change of lifestyle. Diets come and go. A change of lifestyle ought not be so transitory, if it’s really better than the previous one. And that is what Lent is essentially; not simply a collection of things to give up or a collection of things more to do, but a drastic systematic shift in thinking, speaking, praying, living, and believing.

And that brings us to the big question. What does it all mean? What should we do? I believe Lent invites us to greater awareness of our need for God in our lives, being more intentional about living according to the values of the gospel, giving more direction to the specifically Christian focus of our daily life. What should we give up? I say we give up selfishness and sin, prejudice and hate, bitterness and resentment, envy, malice, dishonesty, cynicism, possessiveness, hardness of heart, jealousy, the desire for vengeance, the need to control or change someone else, laziness, lust, anger, wishing harm on those we dislike, that hidden satisfaction we take in the misfortune of others. If all that is evil, disturbing, and repulsive to us, why in the world would we welcome it all back into our hearts and our lives after Lent?

The call to change this holy season of Lent is an invitation to be transformed, to advance steadily in holiness, to draw closer to God and the values that are important to God. If giving up chocolate and coffee will make you a good person, by all means. If it only makes you miserable, and consequently everyone else around you, find something else to give up. If more time in prayer and service outreach draws you closer to the heart of God, that might just be the way to go. But if it takes you away from your duties and obligations at home or at work, if it pulls you away from your faith community, if it imposes your burdens onto someone else’s shoulders, you may be rejecting exactly that which God has chosen to draw you to himself and make you holy. Lent is more than just giving up bad habits or spending more time in church. It is about rejecting sin and selfishness once and for all. And if we succeed at this task this year, we will easily find more sin and selfishness to work on next year … or we end up going through the motions yet again this season of Lent, and we will find ourselves back in this same spot next year, not any better than we are now, not anywhere closer to God.

So we enter Lent this year hearing God call us anew to a drastic and systematic shift in the way we think and pray and live and believe. “Now is a very acceptable time.  Now is the day of salvation.”

Rolo B Castillo © 2024