Choose Life ~ Live Lent

Choose Life ~ Live Lent

It has to be my most favourite time of year: Lent. Unfortunately in the past it was hijacked as a time to look down on oneself. But that is changing too. People now see Lent as the time for transformation. The New Year resolutions are probably well out the window by the time Lent comes around, so in a sense it is a new beginning. It offers a time for reflection too and for those who hear and read the gospel each week during this season, the texts offer a richness that resonates with people’s lives. On Thursday (10th March) we heard from Deuteronomy, that famous text that is now more affiliated with the movie Trainspotting, “CHOOSE LIFE” (Deut 30:19).

We love challenges but the problem with Lent in the past has been the language. Words like sin, guilt, evil, and temptation – they bring about such negative overtones. In reality, the word sin simply means a broken relationship. And we can all relate to that. Our relationships with those we love and cherish, our relationship with the planet, our relationship with God – they need a chance to be aired out, to be explored, refreshed and renewed. (Note to self: get new language for Lent).

Our first stop on this Lenten journey is the ‘desert’. Why? We focus on the three themes of prayer, almsgiving and fasting and in our first week we are called to retreat to the desert. We need to remove ourselves from our hectic lives in order to BE STILL, to STOP, to BREATHE. There’s a personal Lenten retreat on offer in Springfield parish, Tallaght this year, you don’t need to go anywhere or do anything, apart from dedicate a few minutes each evening to ‘SPACE’ and ‘QUIET’. (Their new parish pastoral worker is quite annoying! If you fancy joining in, check the resource on the right "Something Different For Lent").

Paulo Cohelo, my favourite author and let’s face it, Guru extraordinaire, had a brilliant use of Alice in Wonderland this week in his blog. The best quote of which is of course “We are all mad here” (The Cat). But Alice wakes up one morning questioning:

“I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is ‘Who in the world am I?’ Ah, that’s the great puzzle!” (Lewis Carrol)


Lent calls each of us to transform our lives and our relationships with the world

around us. We won’t automatically wake up on Easter morning transformed. It takes time, it takes practice. But we are KINGDOM PEOPLE, building, transforming, and working in solidarity. With so much to do, we must take example from the first Sunday gospel of this transforming season and allow ourselves to be led, like Jesus, “into the wilderness by the Spirit” (Mt 4:1).
So LOVE LIFE; LIVE LENT; TRANSFORM YOUR WORLD.

Thought for the first week of Lent:

‘The question is not “How am I to find God?” but
“How am I to let myself be found by Him?”
The question is not “How am I to know God?” but
“How am I to let myself be known by God?”
And finally, the question is not “How am I to love God?” but “How am I to let myself be loved by God?”
God is looking into the distance for me,
Trying to find me, and longing to bring me home.’
(Henri J. Nouwen)