Lent is that season in the church year where we resolve to give something up. Most of us probably choose something like sweets or a recreational activity or anything that we can eliminate from our lives for the next 40 days.
There is nothing wrong with this and ought to be encouraged, but I believe that it doesn't get to the heart of Lent and can even leave Lent as a lukewarm experience.
Lent is perhaps the season of the Church year that is most life giving. This may seem paradoxical, and indeed it is meant to be. How is a season where we deprive ourselves and talk about sin and death be a time of life?
We give up these things for Lent because we are supposed to be reminded that we do not need these things to live and survive. We are forced into a period of simplicity and purgation that ought to show us just how blessed we are with what we have and realize how little we need to live a full life.
In the same breath, we are also focusing on our sinfulness and our eventual death. This can seem and feel a little uncomfortable to talk about outside of a "church setting". I know that I am cautious to bring up the topic of death in conversation with family and friends - it is just not something we talk about casually or openly. But, we are called to during these 40 days. We are called to examine our sinfulness and our death.
Remember, it was sin that brought about death. We were created to be eternal and death as we know it was not 'in the original plan'. Adam and Eve first sinned and that sin ruptured our relationship with God and brought about a physical death that we all must go through by nature of our sinfulness. The only human (let's leave Christ out of this for now) that never died was our Blessed Mother...and she never sinned!
This is a reality of our lives and our existence. No one will escape death. Death will take hold of each of us. We can't hide from its presence anymore than we can from God's.
When those we love die, we experience incredible grief, pain and loneliness. We go through those emotions because this was not supposed to be this way. We are separated and we long to be - we were made to be - connected and in communion. This is the ultimate price of love. If you love someone, you will experience pain - throughout your relationship and through death.
This is where life comes in! "Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you shall return". When we realize that we are going to die. When we realize that we are sinful. We begin to see what it means to live.
We see that we are meant to live for others and Christ. We cannot take any fame, glory or wealth with us to the grave - the Psalms are peppered with this reminder. We begin to realize that living for others is the ultimate purpose of our lives. We don't love to serve ourselves - we're going to die and not bring any of our 'stuff' with us. We are meant to live for love. We are made to love others and to love God. This is the only thing that lasts and that goes with us through the death's portals.
Remembering that we are all dust frees us to purge our lives of possession, addictions, selfishness and be able to live that Lenten Trifecta of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Our death also guarantees that we will have eternal life. Only through death does the resurrection come. "You can't have Easter Sunday without Good Friday" as the saying goes.
Yes, death and sin are sobering thoughts and can lead us into some very arid spiritual deserts - this is good and necessary for all of us. The spiritual life is not meant to be cushy and luscious all the time - if it is for you, you may not be challenging yourself to grow. But, when we come out of these deserts, we will know the true value of refreshing water. We will no longer take for granted that faucet of life, but will cherish every satiating drop that flows forth.
Remember, man, dust you are and dust you shall return
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