LENT

The season of Lent is a holy season. It is a journey to glory, to new creation. Lent comes from the old English word, lencten, which means springtime, the lengthening of daylight and hours. It comes from the Latin word, lente, which means to go slowly because haste makes waste. It is also the past tense of the verb to lend because everything we have is borrowed from God and we return what we borrowed to Him with abundance. We are called to bear fruits that will last.  Therefore, God is the biggest lender. Lent comes from the Latin word, quadragesima which means forty days or literally the fortieth day. It is a time of  preparation, transition and initiation. It is to get back to the basics. And the basics refer to God who is the supreme good, absolute treasure, the summum bonum or the highest good. During this first Sunday of lent, we are called to reflect on the temptations of Jesus which are also our temptations. Temptation is the measure of human free-dom. Life is a constant struggle against the devil. It is an ever present reality in life. The devil tempts us to choose not the person that God wants to be. He wants to take us away from the path God wants us to walk. He tries to divert Jesus from His mission, to choose the short cut, the easy and convenient way. Jesus is able to defeat temptation by the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of God’s love. He also uses the Scripture which is the sword of the Spirit for His defense. He is radically obedient to the Father and He relies on God alone which is the only way to be strong. When we are tempted, we also need the Holy Spirit, our aid in times of need. We need the Scripture that becomes the sword of the Spirit for our defense. We need to rely on God alone because that is the only way for us to be strong, to be fully alive, to be totally free and to be fully human. Temptation also helps us to be strong and to know who we are, what we stand for, what we are capable of and where our hearts are truly given. This holy season of lent, we need to follow Jesus, His way of the cross which leads to His glory and our glory too.