Most readers will be aware that, as a word, Lent reflects the Old English term for springtime, and the thought of spring with all its overtones of reawakening, new life and fresh beginnings can assist us approach this unique period of forty days in the right frame of mind. The traditional practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving represent the pillars on which Lent rests and these pointers will undoubtedly be foremost on our minds as we are marked with the penitential sign of ashes on Ash Wednesday.

The real value and meaning of Lent is to be found in spiritual renewal and a fresh commitment to the will of GodMany charitable calls will be made on us during Lent, and it is absolutely right that we should be generous in our response to the needy causes both at home and abroad. Mercy shown to the poor and needy is mercy shown to Christ himself. Yet these commendable external works of charity in Lent must be accompanied by a daily desire for growth in interior holiness or, perhaps better expressed, union with God our Father in imitation of his Son.

When our Lord took himself apart into the Judean wilderness for forty days he was following an important biblical tradition, for Moses spent the same period in prayer and fasting on Mount Sinai when he received the Decalogue, (Exodus 34:28). Scripture also records that the prophet Elijah journeyed for forty days on pilgrimage to encounter God on Mount Horeb, (1 Kings 19:8). The journeys of Moses and Elijah culminated in a meeting with the all-holy God and the discovery of his will for his people Israel. Both these two great figures from salvation history discovered as well renewed purpose for their ministry as God’s servants.

Lent is a time for self reflection and examinationIn his humanity and at the outset of his ministry, Jesus Christ likewise chose to be alone with his Father in what we can only imagine was the deepest possible prayerful union.  However, as the synoptic gospels relate, it was also for him a time of trial and temptation. In essence, the three temptations of Satan were intended to persuade Jesus to declare his autonomy and independence of God and consequently be the complete master of his own destiny. Were he to succumb to the devil’s enticements he could dazzle the world by his miracles and revel in the applause and acclaim of his fellow human beings. These were indeed real temptations for the incarnate Son of God, but his love for his Father and his resolve to follow his will proved stronger, and we are told that the devil failed in his attempts and left him for the time being.

As we contemplate the figure of Christ in the wilderness during Lent, we too are called by God to enter into a similar time of self-examination and discernment of priorities. The Lord was compelled to make choices, either to follow the path his Father had marked out for him or else adopt the ways of the world. It was a bitter and personal struggle for Jesus, and therefore can be no different for us who are called to imitate him. The real value and meaning of Lent is to be found in spiritual renewal and a fresh commitment to the will of God which becomes gradually clearer to us throughout the disciplines and spiritual exercises of these forty days.

Lent ideally must also be a uniquely individual spiritual journey, during which we allow the Spirit of God to inspire and lead us according to the mind of God. This calls on our part for discernment and the discipline of attentive silent listening using what St Augustine of Hippo calls ‘the ears of the heart.’ The manner in which we walk the Lenten pilgrimage of forty days should therefore resonate with the deepest stirrings within ourselves, and so enable us personally to engage with the Lord in a manner worthy of this grace-filled season. The spiritual masters lay great emphasis on the virtue of simply being silent before God, and a few minutes each day in quiet recollection can allow Christ to dialogue with us in a way that transcends words. Perhaps more than ever, in a world where we are constantly sated with noise and media images of every kind, we need to withdraw and discover within ourselves the deeper wellsprings of our faith, and particularly the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

Throughout those rich chapters of the Lord’s farewell discourse in John’s gospel, 14-17, we find the theme of Christ and the Father coming to take up their abode both within the individual believer, and the Church as a whole. Christ’s promise of the Holy Spirit in the same discourse adds a Trinitarian dimension to this theological truth of the divine indwelling.

The spiritual masters lay great emphasis on the virtue of simply being silent before God, and a few minutes each day in quiet recollection can allow Christ to dialogue with us in a way that transcends wordsThe Eastern Patristic tradition liked to speak of the ‘divinization of man’, precisely because of the Incarnation when the Son of God became human and in doing so made us divine, sharers in his divine nature. The Lenten season offers us both the scope and the challenge to enter into and appropriate more fully these inspiring and fundamental truths of our faith.

Closely related to this practice of silence, now growing in popularity and taken from the monastic tradition, is that of lectio divina, where we take a passage from scripture, turn it over in our minds, and allow Christ to speak to us through the sacred pages. This can be done alone, or in a small group. Through this use of scripture Christ is continually formed within us, to use the Pauline phrase. Attendance at daily Mass if at all possible should rank foremost in our list of Lenten priorities. Also to be recommended are regular visits to the Blessed Sacrament, or rediscovering the power of the Rosary as a prayer. Most parish churches arrange to have the Stations of the Cross at least once during each week of Lent and this well-established devotion is a wonderful way of accompanying in spirit the suffering Christ on his way to Calvary. The ways of living out the Lenten season are numerous, but what ever I choose must somehow touch me personally.

The overall purpose of Lent is to prepare us for the celebration of Christ’s Paschal Mystery which climaxes in the Sacred Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil. We were incorporated into this mystery when we were baptised. In a sense, our whole Christian life is spent in living out our baptismal promises and in union with Christ sacramentally passing through death to the fullness of life in the glory of Easter Day. The Church invites us to make that Lenten journey in imitation of her Lord, finding the strength to wrestle with those challenges, temptations and seductions which would keep us from God and from discovering the truth about ourselves as his unique creation. Throughout these hallowed forty days, let us resolve in the words of the letter to the Hebrews (3:1), ‘to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.’