Lent is for Self-Discipline and Growth

02-21-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Anthony Okolo, C.S.Sp

Lent is here again when we draw closer to God and go into the desert with the Lord in prayer, fasting and almsgiving. The season of Lent is a season of grace because by working with the Lord for this forty day journey we draw strength and grace from the life of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. We embark on Lent as a special time of repentance, reconciliation, and reparation. We grow during Lent by accepting and living the Good News deeper in our lives. No matter how much the power of sin and it’s effect have flooded every area of our lives, salvation is possible for us the moment we turn around and embrace the mercy and love of God which He offers us every day and the Lenten period is the time His grace flows in abundance because Jesus wants us to come very close to him with our heart and mind.

In the Gospel account the Spirit drove Jesus into the desert where he was tempted by Satan after forty days. Jesus chose a special quiet time of forty days to be alone with the father in the desert before embarking on His public ministry. Thus, the desert becomes a place of encounter, a place of experience and a place of prayer alone with God. We need to get into our own desert with the Lord to be able to battle with those desires, trials and temptations that would hinder us from profiting from the graces of this period. In the desert of our heart we discover God’s love and that of our brothers and sisters. We come to terms with whom we are as children created in the image and likeness of God and what God expects of us. In the desert we go into our inner room to be able to prepare to face the challenges that would face us.

In the Gospel passage, Mark tells us that after John had been arrested “Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God” the Gospel of God in some translations is called the Good News because Jesus has come to proclaim the good news of God to humanity. It is the Gospel of God because with Jesus coming we see clearly what God is like. He came to reveal to us the identity and person of God. The coming of Jesus brings hope to hopeless heats because God is now with us and among us. This is the reason it is called the good news. According to William Barclays, “The human predicament has always been that we are haunted both by sin and by goodness. The coming of Jesus unifies that disintegrated personality into one. We find victory over our warring selves by being conquered by Jesus Christ.”

The message that Jesus proclaims in the gospel of Mark in this first week of Lent is to repent and to believe in the Gospel. Repentance thus, becomes the central message Jesus proclaims. He wants us to make a U turn from anything that takes us away from enjoying His love. He wants us to enter into a fresh covenant where He would be the center of our lives. That is why repentance means to turn around towards God, His mercy and His love. True repentance can only take place when we first acknowledge our short comings, admit our sins, recognize our need of God and then approach him with humility of heart.

Jesus also admonishes us to believe in the Gospel. To believe in this case is to accept the word that comes from Jesus as coming from God. It means that the message He preaches is a message of hope and life, for that is what the Gospel is all about.

May you be blessed with your family as we begin this great season of Lent.