If you do a search on Wikipedia, you will find the meaning of LENT as described as follows…LENT (Latin: Quadragesima, ‘Fortieth’) is a solemn religious observance in the Christian liturgical calendar…The English word ‘Lent’ is a shortened form of the Old English word ‘lencten’ meaning ‘Spring Season’. Lent is the period of 40 days which comes before Easter in the Christian calendar. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, Lent is a season of reflection and preparation before the celebrations of Easter. By observing the 40 days of Lent, Christians replicate Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days.
Typically, people say that they are giving up something for Lent. “I’m giving up donuts, sweets, Pop, Coffee (Although I don’t know why anyone would ever give up Coffee) etc. for Lent. Have you given it any thoughts this Lenten Season? I, myself, have started a Keto Eating Plan, although this is not to celebrate the Lenten Season, it is to try and shed the COVID Calories that I have accumulated during the Pandemic. I am feeling so much better since starting this eating plan and I know that if I continue down this road of a Healthy Diet, I will only get healthier and hopefully slimmer.
All of this got me thinking at the beginning of this Lenten Season. What should we be giving up in our lives that have the potential to make us sluggish and sick Spiritually? Worry, Fear, Hatred, Gossip…the list could go on couldn’t it? I wonder what would happen if we got rid of these “Bad Calories” and started on a Healthy Spiritual Diet with Prayer and Bible Reading cultivating the “Good Spiritual Calories” of Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control…wait a minute…THAT’S IN THE BIBLE!!! Galatians 5:22-23 gives the perfect “Fruit Based” recipe for living a Spiritually Healthy Life. With these Fruit of the Spirit we can do the things that Saint Francis prayed about in his Prayer.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.Amen.
