Living Lent

To really live Lent, I think we need to give some serious thought to the meaning of our spiritual disciplines during this time ~ fasting, prayer and almsgiving. Thomas Merton once said something like, fasting cannot have a true effect unless our motives for practicing it springs from personal meditation. We have to think about what we are doing, and the reasons should spring from deep within us, in the depths of our freedom and be strengthened by Christian love. Otherwise they are just self-imposed sacrifices and probably more an external routine followed so as not to feel guilty ~ and not done for the sake of love.

In looking at our Lenten disciplines, my hope is that we all choose what will help us develop a healthy integration of mind, body and spirit! The money that we are not spending on the things we "give up" really should become our alms for those in need. We could consider "giving up" some of our personal time and "do more" that involves helping the less fortunate. At a deeper level, may this time be one of "giving into" Christ, who challenges us always to grow and not be satisfied with where we are spiritually!

Lent isn't about perfecting ourselves through sheer willpower, but about surrendering to a love that transforms us from the inside out. The emptiness we create through fasting is meant to be filled with something greater than what we released—not just temporarily, but eternally.