For many of us the 40 days of Lent take on all the characteristics of preparation for an Olympic marathon. We approach Lent with motivation and gusto, ready to embrace the strict discipline required to finish the race to Easter Sunday. We strengthen our will power and determination by giving things up and fasting. Some of us build our spiritual stamina by attending daily mass. Others set spiritual goals - I will pray more and read scripture everyday; I will go to confession and perform works of charity every week. Lent is a time for us to sharpen our spiritual skills and develop some good Christian habits and routines. But Lent is so much more than simply developing good Christian routines.
The 40 days of Lent provide us with time and space for spiritual growth and development. Lent is not a race. It is a retreat in the midst of life. Lent invites us to slow down, to evaluate our relationship with God, to identify and then turn away from the things that separate us from God (selfishness, greed, materialism, desire for power) and to rebuild our relationship with God.
During Lent, Jesus invites us to go into the dessert with him to confront our human weakness. Through our prayer, fasting and acts of charity, God our Father offers us the grace to make Jesus the center of our lives, to overcome the power of temptation and sin, and to assure our proper place in the kingdom of heaven.
God our Father,
in the desert your Son Jesus struggled forty days
with the demands of his mission,
and he overcame all temptations.
In these forty days of Lent
convert us; turn our hearts
to the peace of your forgiveness,
the light of your love,
your concern for people.
Let us find the life and the joy
which Jesus brings us,
and dispose us to share it with others.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
Amen.
