A LENT LIKE NO OTHER

In Fr. William P. Saunders (a priest at the parish of Our Lady of Hope in Potomac Falls), He writes << I was always taught, "If you gave something up for the Lord, tough it out. Don't act like a Pharisee looking for a loophole." … an emphasis (during the period of lent) must be placed on performing spiritual works, like attending the Stations of the Cross, attending Mass, making a weekly holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament, taking time for personal prayer and spiritual reading and most especially making a good confession and receiving sacramental absolution. Although the practices may have evolved over the centuries, the focus remains the same: to repent of sin, to renew our faith and to prepare to celebrate joyfully the mysteries of our salvation. >>

We find it necessary that, this period of lent has to be personalized, it has to be enriched and it really has to keep us focused on what this lent is all about. We are reminded every Sunday (if not every day) of why we are Christians. Easter is the reason we are Christians. 

Personalize this period! That is the message we put across again this Lenten period. It has to be the lent of 2013. It is has to be the Me who is again today being saved. That Christ is dying again for me this year. The message of Lent is today alive and talking to me in the person of me  

 It is so meaningful and we have to be aware of it that “In a holy Lent, we need to spend time being reminded of our need to trust in the providence of God (“Do not put the Lord your God to the test”), the supremacy of God (“Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only”), and the sufficiency of His Word (“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”). 

So Lent is really much more about what God adds to our lives as we spend intentional, focused time with Him rather than what we give up, because the Gospel is always about what God has done for us, not about what we do for Him.

All the experiences that Church is making us live during this period of Lent is just to let us know that we are Christian because God made us Christians. It is a choice of Love that gave us life. We are not our making, we are our acceptance. That during this period we come even closer to God, it is because at The Bosom we embrace anew the true feeling of being loved.

Our prayer today is that again this lent be an experience of ‘Being Loved’ and that, we embrace it like it was ‘No-Other’.

Collins Kangogo – Liturgical Task Force