Lent And Its Countless Benefits To Me And Others

The season of Lent is here once again. Lent is a time of growth, it is a time of deeper encounter with God. Lent is the time of pulse taking, not necessarily of our physical pulse but rather that of our spiritual health and well-being. It is a time of greater awareness, a time to love more, and more importantly a time to answer the call to be holy. These are just some of the attributes that to me sum up what this beautiful season it’s about.

Before I continue any further in this post, there is something that I would like to clear up. That is the discipline practiced and learnt during this holy season of Lent, is meant to be part of our daily lives. For example, the practice of avoiding sin is meant to be something that we do every day that we live, regardless of what time of year it is, and what season we are in. Too many that I speak to, see Lent as a season and no more. They participate in all the “rituals” during Lent, from Ash Wednesday, through to Holy Week. After that, sadly they ease back to life outside of Christ. What a tragedy that is! They have not understood that Lent, like all the other seasons within the Catholic Church, is God’s personal invitation to us all to enter into a deeper relationship with Him, through Christ Jesus His Son.

As mentioned before, Lent is a holy season. In The Book of Leviticus chapter 19, verse 2, God instructed Moses to tell the people of Israel to ‘be holy, for I Yahweh your God am Holy.’ This call to holiness is also echoed in 1 Peter 1: 15-16, ‘ . . .but as obedient children, be yourselves holy in all your activity, after the model of the Holy One who calls us, since scripture says, “Be holy, for I am holy.’

God’s desire for us all is Eternal life, and to enter into Eternal Life, we must be holy. Lent gives us the opportunity by God’s grace, to strive towards holiness, and to rekindle our love for God.  It gives us the opportunity through grace, to turn away from sin and to seek holiness, every day of our lives. Lent challenges us to become the best version of ourselves, through God’s grace. Through prayer, fasting and God’s all-sufficient grace, we can be molded and fashioned more and more into His image and likeness.

Lent is a time to work on getting spiritually fit, and getting rid of the excess weight of sin.  It is a time when we allow God’s Holy Spirit to move in us and convict us of our sins. It is a time of recognizing the boundless mercy of God, who loves us in spite of our wretchedness. It is a time of recalling the supreme price that was paid for our redemption, and in so doing, it becomes a time of growing to love God so much more.

Through ridding ourselves of distractions, Lent becomes a time of keenly listening to what God is saying to us, especially through holy Scriptures, and as that still sweet voice calls us to Himself, it becomes a time of making maximum use of the sacraments of reconciliation, that cleanses us of sins, and the Holy Eucharist, the Body, and Blood of Jesus nourishing our souls.

Also, as you identify and surrender more distractions to God, Lent can become a time for more personal prayer and more dying to self. If we are truly open to God’s graces, Lent exposes us to the light of God’s glory, and under this light, darkness fades.  We will, therefore, die more and more to self, and through persistent prayer, we will come to recognize the needs of others, and try to help them as best we can.  For the less fortunate, it can be a time when the ‘flood gates of heaven’ – as it were – opens up, and through alms-giving, they receive necessities that they normally cannot afford.

There are so many more benefits of this wonderful season called Lent.  It is a tremendous blessing for us all. It is meant to change us for the better, for good. What I mean is, if we are truly sincere with our Lenten devotions, we will never want to go back to how we were before the season started. Our lives will be completely transformed and renewed, ready to enter the glorious season of Easter when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  This is indeed, a sweet reason to celebrate Lent, with the hope that one day, we too will be raised from death to Eternal Life in Christ Jesus, and will live with Him forever