What Is Lent?

What does it mean, this season of the year we call Lent? It was begun in the very early days of the Church as a period of fasting and prayer. It was to be a time of penitence and sorrow for the sins of the world which had placed the Christ upon the cross. Today, it is to be a time of confession for our sins, the ones that still bring sorrow to our Lord, and which still crucify Him in our daily life. It is a period of approximately 40 days (not counting Sundays), that remind us of the 40 days our Lord spent in the wilderness temptation, as well as the 40 years of wandering in the desert by the children of Israel. Some people think of it as a time of self‑denial (like giving up candy, etc.) Others say, "yes, it is a time to give up unnecessary things in our lives, but also a time to take on more important things, like more prayer, more Bible study, regular church attendance, some new acts of mercy, some additional deeds of kindness."

Perhaps Lent should also be a time to take a new look at the world. All people see the same world, but not all people see the world in the same way! It is easy to be pessimistic about our world. The prophet of doom is often popular. But to be pessimistic, is like a betrayal of our faith, when Easter is just around the corner, and the message of Hope is everywhere in the Gospel.

The Christian sees the world just as vividly as anyone else; but the Christian sees it through different eyes. He or she recognizes the terribleness of sin, for daily they have had to confess their own. As a child of God, we have new eyes! Those eyes now penetrate the mind and the heart of Jesus, who saw worth in every living soul; who found a heart of gold in a sinful Magdala; and a living rock in a wishy‑washy Peter. It was Jesus who found faith in a blind man, and goodness in the heart of a robber on a cross.

The salvation of the world began with Jesus; but it is continued through human eyes. It is for people like you and me to see life from this same lofty peak as Jesus saw it, and to see goodness in even the worst among us, and to see a child of Heaven in every child of earth.