How Will You Lent?
Today is Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of the Lenten season which ends on Holy Saturday. Lent lasts for forty days (excluding Sundays) representing the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness, being tempted by Satan, as he prepared to begin his ministry. Lent is a time of preparation, fasting, and repentance in anticipation of Easter. Christians participate in Lent as a way to deepen and focus on their relationship with God. It is the Catholic tradition to participate in Lent in three ways: fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. These practices are meant to clear away what stands in between one and God, and to make a clear and intentional effort to love one’s neighbor and God and decenter from oneself. So, it could be interesting to think of the word “Lent” as a verb, as an action rather than something static and unchanging. How will you participate and prepare? How will you Lent?