About Lent
The Essentials of Lent  
To become like Christ, we must spend each day doing the following three things:
 Prayer
Sacrifice
Good Works
Lent: A Change of Heart
Lent starts with a realization of the fact that we are sinners! That is sometimes hard to recognize in our culture, because we "are" our culture and we are so close to the world that everything seems "alright." We are so much a part of our culture that we don't see where our culture is opposed to God and his holy way. That is normal! We don't notice putting on a little weight until we step on a scale. We can be surprised how fast we were really going, when pulled over by the police. We need to check our lifestyle and our actions against the teaching of the Church and the bible.
Sometimes upon looking into to it, we can find that actions that we do as "normal" for the world, but not part of what God expects of his followers. Sin is doing these things and disregarding God's way.
Our Journey to God, always, but especially during Lent, must start with a confession of our sins. Only after the confession of our faults can we be in a position to move beyond that point. You may say "I didn't understand those things were really wrong," but now that you do see the gap between "what you do and what you are expected to do," you need to change those actions. We will never begin to move on, until we see that actions can separate us from the Lord's way.
Lent is a movement of heart. It is to a conversion—to change. It must be real; it must be sincere; it must be a decision. Change can't happen by itself, it can't happen, if we don't decide to make it happen. Otherwise, it will only be good intentions.
What draws us to Sin? What really holds us to the sinfulness that we cling on to—that which we can't rid ourselves of? Until we get to the root of the problem of "why we have not changed," we will never change. Remember the rich man who asked Jesus "what must I do to follow you?" Jesus says, "follow the law." He says, "I do that, is there anything more?" Jesus says, "take all that you have and give it away and follow me." We don't hear the end of the story; we are just told that the man went away. How much did he want to follow Jesus? Enough to give away the things he relied on—or was that too much? We can begin our journey from who we are, to who we want to be, only when we change our heart. "Change your heart" and your actions will follow. If we are so entrenched in the sins of the world that we can't see what those sins are, and we are willing to look, we need to check our actions against the scale of God's Commandments.
The Work of Lent
Lent is a journey to renew ourselves and re-pledge our commitment to the Lord through our Baptismal Promises. Lent can't be a time like other times. It must be a time of reflection—a time of looking at ourselves and comparing ourselves to what Christ calls us to be. It is time to look carefully at ourselves to see what needs changing in our lives that will help us be more like what Jesus wants us to be. The things we give up during Lent are those things that mold us in an image different from Christ's Image. This is not easy. Old habits die hard, and if we really pick the things that are hard, Lent will be a struggle. It is not a struggle we do alone, but we do it with the support of the Lord's presence in our lives and the support of the Catholic Community.
Desiring More through Less
The Disciplines of Lent—like Fasting and Abstinence, lead us to a simpler life. Even our culture tells us that the rich and fancy foods were not intended to be eaten every day. Fasting and Abstaining from foods makes us desire other things to fill us. Jesus' way of life will satisfy us when we are hungry. We feel better when we are not stuffed and full. Remember after the Thanksgiving meal how we don't want to do anything except rest. Fasting helps us gain energy—energy that will allow us to do good works.
Breaking out of the Same Old, Same Old
Spiritual Reading is an important way to have new input and ideas come into our lives. Most of us are so busy in our lives, that we spend most of our time reacting to the things that come our way. If we don't read scripture or some spiritual book, we will just have the same old ideas and nothing will challenge us to see things differently. We will just be the same old person who never gets a new religious idea. If you read the gospels, then Jesus will challenge you. Don't try to read the bible all in one chunk. It is like a gourmet meal; you need to taste a little and savor it. The Gospel of Saint Matthew is the gospel that is focused on this liturgical year. Read a section—a couple paragraphs— and then ask yourself what is the message for your life. Even though the scriptures were written at a different age, the message of Jesus is universal—for all ages. Jesus is not going to give you answers. He is going to raise questions and that is the point. You are the only one besides God that knows how you are doing—you need to check on yourself every now or then.
Being Christian is Focusing NOT on Ourselves
Good Works is the final stage of the process. Jesus' message is that we (as he was) are not the center of our world. The work of the Lord is to share the gifts we have been given with others. In the world, the point is that everyone strives to get his or her fifteen minutes of fame. Jesus tells us that God is not like that and he doesn't seek that. We who try to live his life-style worry more about helping and serving and sharing then getting.
Too Late, but catch up
If we were athletes preparing for the race, we would be warming up by now. Lent wants us to have a running start. We should be looking at the things that we are going to give up, setting time on our calendars for the 10 minutes of reading, and looking for ways to care for others. Again if we were athletes preparing for the 5K race, we would be practicing. Start now to see how hard it will be and what difficulties you will encounter so when Lent begins you will be adjusted.If we didn't get started before Lent, start now even during Lent. And most of all, remember that Lent is how it is supposed to be all the time. There is no end to Lent. The spiritual journey of life in Jesus doesn't end at Easter; we just see the reward of our sharing in Christ's life-style. If we quit the life-style, we soon will be back where we were before we began. This is a lifetime experience. The rest and reward comes in Heaven—if we can get there.
Return, Repent, Reform
These three words dart in and out of our Lenten Readings and Prayers. Jesus uses these words to have us take a time of scrutiny. We are asked to take our lives and give them a "searching study." We are to "scrutinize" our attitudes, our values, our actions, our words, our indifference, our neglect and failure to act then to reform-repent-return. Without that "searching look" our unexamined lives will drift along in mediocrity and we'll stay dull and unconverted. So much in life helps to deafen us to God's call.
Old Insulating Walls
We build walls to keep out—the urging toward growth, toward conversion, toward uprooting sin from our lives—that which God continually gives to us. We hear hard words in these scrutinizes that make it difficult for us to stifle, ignore or drown out the deafening words of Jesus' "Return, Repent, Reform."
In the third, fourth, and fifth weeks of Lent, we are called, along with the Elect (those unbaptized, who are preparing to come into the church,) to acknowledge our sinfulness, to have our sight restored, to reject sin, to be strengthened against temptation and the deceits of sin. We are urged with them to "examine" or "scrutinize" our lives and root out anything that is hurting ourselves or another.
Of course, for us who are already "baptized in the Lord Jesus" that is what Lent is for—to scrutinize. Saint Paul says that the Word of God is like a two-edged sword that cuts through our marrow and bone and exposes the very heart of us." During Lent, we are urged to uncover the demons of sinfulness that hide in our hearts and are killing the life of God within us. These demons make us blind to the needs of our fellow humans, deaf to the call of the Lord and kill our love and compassion. All of us must submit to the "Scrutinizes" of the Word of God, lest we die the eternal death.
Click here for A Reflection on our Life through God's eyes.
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