“God of Mercy and Compassion, look with pity upon me”
By: Edmund Elorm Ackuaku
Every great event is marked by a period of preparation. This preparation involves an anticipation and a disposition towards what we hope to celebrate. We are privileged to enter the season of Lent, a period of intense preparation in anticipation of the Mother of Sundays, Easter. Advent is to Christmas as Lent is to Easter, the greatest feast of the liturgical year. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday.
This year's Lenten observance is not different from other Lenten observances, yet we can differentiate it and make it unique if we dispose ourselves properly to it. Lent denotes a 40 days preparation. Scripturally, forty recounts the 40 years of wilderness wandering of the Israelites, and the many forty days and years stories in scriptures.
Lent as pointed out by St. John Cassian in the 5th Century is “the tithes of the year”. Here, we give to God those delightful but dangerous portions of life. Sin is one of those. We are obliged to give to God only good things, things that seem delightful to us and yet are harmful. We are entreated to offer them in sacrifice to God. Only the best harvest could be offered as a tithe. We give these to God so that we learn not to put anything in God's place in our lives.
In the season of Lent, stress is put on the three traditional dimensions: Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. “Through prayer we make room for God in our lives and we express our desire to enter into a deeper friendship with the Lord... Through fasting, we deny ourselves something in order to share it with others, especially with those who are in need... almsgiving leads us to share with others what we have received from the Lord in a spirit of solidarity and communion”.
The colour for this season is Violet or purple. This expresses the penitential character of the season. The Altar is not permitted to be decorated with flowers. This invariably means that decoration should either be moderate or not done, expressing the Church as in “sackcloth and ashes”. What is advocated for in this season is a “return to [God] with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and tear your hearts and not your garments” (cf. Joel 2:12ff). The Lord beckons us to accept conversion, a change, a metanoia, which resides in “transcending one's narrow mental constructs, which include one's pre-conditionings, impressions, prejudices, strongly-held opinions and stubborn beliefs”. At best, we are called to turn to God.
Also, in keeping with the solemnity of the season, musical instruments are allowed to support singing. Some prefer to do away with it. Alleluia is “switched-off”.
Let us endeavour to go through spiritual exercises as part of building a good relationship with God. Stations of the Cross, Rosary Prayers, Frequenting sacramental confession, and ultimately, attending Holy Mass.
The season lasts only 6 weeks. Let us make the best out of it. Let us return to the Lord with prayer, fasting and almsgiving. May the Lord journey with us in this penitential and graceful season.
Amen.
REFERENCE
Bernardita, D. (2007). Glimpses of Paul and his Message. Paulines Publication Africa, Kenya.
Scott, H. (nd). Signs of Life: 40 Catholic Customs and their Biblical Roots. E-book. Doubleday.
The Daily Missal, pp. 182-184.
Thanks.
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