Lent has begun! Strange to say, but our response should be ‘Yippee!”, though most of us tend to hold our heads a little lower. Lent is a privileged season that is guided not by gloom but by rays of Easter light. There’s no point to Lent if we do not contemplate Easter. It is in this contemplation of the gift of the Resurrection that we realise we need to repent and change our ways. Repent simply remains turn around, face forward, pay attention, “eyes on the prize” as it were. These are remarks all of us can remember from our school days in class, and we were not paying attention.
Lent simply means spring season. We all do spring cleaning at this time of year. So in Lent we do spring cleaning of our hearts and minds. This season of cleaning happens in spring because (especially in Northern latitudes) the sunlight of spring streams in our windows after winter gloom and reveals all the dust!! So we clean house. That is exactly what we do in Lent: get rid of the dust, the cobwebs, the coffee stains on the surfaces of our souls and the clutter that gathers the dust in the first place. We do this because, as we contemplate the Easter glory, it reveals our need to burnish our souls, hearts and minds to better radiate God’s glory and compassionate love.
The world at the moment is a scarier place. The immoral and unlawful attack on Ukraine by Pres. Putin is a barbarous act that brings great fear and instability to us all. At this stage, however, we per- sonally must fervently pray for peace in the Ukraine. Please do so as a family each day.
God bless us and may there be peace.
May God bless you, your families, and the week ahead,
Fr Aidan Peter