The 40-Day Lenten Season is a time of penance and charity, during which we engage in intensified prayer, fasting, and almsgiving (charity). Lent is 40 days long as a reminder of Christ’s 40 days in the wilderness, and His defeat of temptation (Matthew 4). Our Lord’s encounter is our example too, as we face the inevitable challenges of temptation and sin. As the Holy Spirit brings conviction of sins, we must confess and repent of our sinful habits and inclinations, to foster an obedient life that will bring glory to God.
Moreover, the Lenten Season is a time of preparation and reflection on the journey of Christ towards the events of that first Holy Week. During Lent, our aim is that these events would take on fresh meaning in our hearts, minds, and lives! We dare not allow these holy happenings to become blips on the screen of liturgical activity, which has no meaning, does not engender appreciation, and are not filled with heartfelt devotion. For the Christian, the happenings of Holy Week should not descend into the abyss of the empty, hollow, insincere, and inconsequential rituals.
What Christ did for us who believe in Him should remain forever large in our hearts! The Scriptures reveal that “He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we may become the righteousness of God.” We must never allow the familiarity of the story to numb our hearts so much that we lose our deep appreciation and love for the grace and mercy of God!
Let us take this journey with Jesus, as He moves toward the Cross at Calvary! We walk together with Him in victory over temptation, struggle in the Garden, trial in an unjust court, suffering at the hands of unjust men, the trek through the Via Dolorosa (the Way of Suffering), crucifixion on a Cross, shedding of His precious blood, and dying for the sins of others!
Again, let us take this journey with Jesus!
