Season of lent
Lent is a time to give things up, but as Fulton J sheen said once, God never asks us to ‘give up anything.’ He simply asks us to exchange it for something better. We will get better returns, when we give up most precious things in life these forty days. God is saying, ‘I have something better for you. But first you have to lighten your load of all the material things and worries and anxieties you’re carrying around.’
The emphasis during Lent is on prayer, fasting and charity. That is what we focus on for the purpose of being open to God’s grace. The custom of fasting and prayer is in almost all religions in the world.
I think the Christian church relaxed the custom of fasting very liberally in the west, and very few takes this seriously. I was working in Muslim country for many years, and I was so impressed the way even small children fast and pray during the month of Ramadan.
I think we have to learn a lot from them, the way of their prayer life, almsgiving etc.
There are many opportunities for charity or almsgiving during the Lenten season, another way we are reminded of our relationships with others and to God.
Lenten experience is a wonderful way to walk in the steps of Christ as he walked in the desert for forty days.
God bless
