Christians around the world entered into the time of Lent this week, a 40-day preparation for the celebration of Easter. While the significance of this sacred time has a particular meaning for Christians, the observance of Lent also offers spiritual insights that people of all religious and humanistic traditions can integrate into their daily practices.
In his introduction to this year’s Lenten Devotional (sign up to receive the daily reflections), produced by Georgetown’s Office of Mission and Ministry, Fr. Mark Bosco, S.J., summarized the Christian story at the root of this observance:
“It is time, once again, to enter into the holy season of Lent – a time of preparation and repentance in which we ponder our own brokenness and sinfulness, and thus ponder our need to die and rise with Jesus. Christians everywhere begin the ancient spiritual practices of self-denial and fasting, prayer and reflection, and almsgiving to those in need.”
Fr. Bosco goes on to situate this year’s Lent in the larger context of our current time in history:
“As we continue to negotiate a world brought low by pandemic, as we ponder the injustices of racism, poverty, and environmental degradation, as we look at our own pettiness and wounded hearts, we pray that we might see and touch the Lord, who enters into our weaknesses and failings, who enters into the darkness of our world in order to shed His light and His merciful love.”
It is within this broader frame that we can appreciate how the Lenten journey can resonate with each of us regardless of our religious identity. At its heart, Lent is an invitation to deeper recognition of the ways that we are all in need of forgiveness, mercy, and love. We grow in this awareness through the three foundational practices of Lent: fasting, prayer and reflection, and almsgiving.
Fasting: Taking this Lenten journey seriously depends on taking stock of what in our lives is in need of healing and repair. One of the pillars of Lent, fasting, helps with this recognition. A common practice of giving something up for the 40 days of Lent often means taking a break from chocolate, social media, wine, or other pleasures that we can easily go without. We can become overly attached to anything in our lives, even the good things, when these things become an excessive focus and get in the way of our generous activity in the world. Lent helps us make more room in ourselves for generosity by acknowledging how some of our habits have become unhealthy or too much a center of our attention. Fasting can even help us grow in greater solidarity with others in the world, especially those in greatest material need, because we can inventory what we have in abundance that can be shared with others.
Prayer and Reflection: Lent invites us to create intentional plans for regular interior practices like prayer and meditation, which help us grow in greater self-awareness. Regular silent reflection actually fosters more other-centeredness because that time for self-examination leads to more recognition of how we can be of service to others. In the same way that fasting makes room in our lives by getting rid of some things holding us back from leading more authentic lives, time for silent reflection makes more room in our interior lives to focus on the things that matter to us and help us live out our deeper purpose. Next week’s SCS Student Retreat, “Going Inward, Growing Outward, Seeing Things New,” is a good example of making space in our inner lives as are our ongoing SCS Daily Digital Meditations hosted at 12 p.m. ET every weekday.
Almsgiving: Serving with and for others is a hallmark of the Spirit of Georgetown. In light of the global refugee crisis, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, there is a great need in our world for generous action. This can mean taking up acts of charity or contributing to the work of justice in our communities and in the broader world. We might ask ourselves in this season: How am I called to greater love of the people around me – my family, friends, neighbors, community members? How am I called to greater love of the people in the world suffering because of systemic injustices? Lent invites us to move beyond our own concerns to the cares and concerns of the larger world.
In whatever ways you mark this season of Lent, my hope is that this spiritually significant time can raise our individual and collective awareness about the need in our lives for healing, mercy, and justice.