During a Walk in the Desert, Look for Hope

~ Those who know me well know that I hold a special place in my heart for Lent. Lent is our opportunity to walk away from what distracts us from saying yes to greater friendship with Christ. It prepares us for the greatest celebration of our Liturgical year: the Easter season. 

While the season of Lent is often marked by a sense of bareness, dryness, and simplicity, it is exactly what I need to recenter myself in Christ. Given that Lent falls in the late winter/early spring every year, it is the perfect opportunity to step out of the busyness that comes with the 3rd quarter of the school year and strengthen my relationship with Jesus, which has quite often taken a backseat at this point in the year. Going back to the basics by making time with the Word of God a top priority allows me to feel as though I am not only using Lent for reflection, but for further growth as well. The work I do during Lent prepares me to celebrate the goodness of God during the Easter season, allowing me to enjoy my favorite time of the year even more. 

There are also several traditions that are associated with Lent that were really important to me growing up; I have vivid memories of attending Mass and Stations with my grandmother on Tuesday nights, helping serve soup supper during our yearly parish mission, and pulling a different stick out of the jar every day to see what I would be giving up or adding to my routine that day. That being said, I am extraordinarily excited to help our school and parish children create some of these experiences for themselves this year to help them prepare for the joy of the Easter season. 

The focus of my lessons thus far has been to ask the students what they can do or give up to make space for Christ. While giving up dessert and electronics can be effective, my goal has been to shift the conversation from being about the material things we can give up to the behaviors that push us away from Jesus. We make lists of the things we can stop doing that are inspired by Pope Francis’s attitude toward Lent. We talk about fasting from complaining, being disrespectful, and lying, so that we can feast on kind words and actions. What we give up is not as important as what we gain in our connection to Christ. What distractions are you walking away from this Lent? How are you saying yes to God?

Throughout the year, we present an article in the bulletin each week on a variety of topics, written by a member of our Parish staff or ministries on a rotating basis.