Readying Ourselves for the Desert

I was very fortunate to be able to speak at Adore at St. Anne last night.  Adore is a monthly Holy Hour on the first Wednesday of the month at St. Anne.  It features a guest speaker, praise & worship music, Eucharistic Adoration, and Benediction.  I was asked to share some thoughts on getting ready for Lent.  Below is my talk.  I hope you enjoy.

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Readying Ourselves for the Desert

                If you’re like me, you can’t believe Lent is only a month away.  It seems like we just finished putting up the Christmas decorations and pulling out the green vestments for Mass.  Soon violet will dominate the sanctuary, and we will enter the desert of Lent in preparation for Easter.  Often times, we think of Lent as preparing ourselves for the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we forget that Lent is its own journey that needs its own preparation.  Thankfully, we’ve got a month to get ready for Lent.

                Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, but you already knew that.  On that day, many people attend Mass and have ashes imposed on them.  The words that accompany the ashes are often, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return” (Roman Missal).  Personally, I prefer the other option: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Roman Missal).  I think that option better summarizes what Lent should do for us.  Lent should be a journey of repentance that ends in a renewed belief in the Gospel at Easter.

                Often, Lent does not really accomplish that.  Or at least for me it doesn’t.  I’m usually caught off guard, because I didn’t prepare.  I find myself talking to friends on Ash Wednesday about what my Lenten penance is, and I have not yet put much thought into it.  Maybe by the First Sunday of Lent I’ve got it all worked out in my head, but in practice, it takes another week.  At that point, I’ve missed out on the crucial part of starting Lent off with a bang, and I struggle to keep up.  Maybe you’re like me and procrastinate on it.  Well, good thing we’ve got one month from today to prepare.

                Let’s start by really taking a look at what Lent is calling us to do.  We hear in Ash Wednesday’s first reading from the Prophet Joel, “Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend our hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God” (2: 12-13a).  Lent is about repentance and a return to God.  It is about renewing our relationship with Him and shedding our bad habits, additions, and sins.  That’s not something you can just do without preparation.

                I remember a time in college when I was taking an upper level course on legislative policy.  In that class we were primarily focused on how the United States Congress functions.  Though I really enjoyed the class, I thought it would be a breeze, because I had just returned from a lengthy legislative internship in the United States Senate, the upper chamber of Congress.  Our grade in that class was made up of four components: three exams and one term paper.

                As the time for the first exam approached, I was pretty confident in my ability to ace it.  I put off studying and spent time with friends instead.  If memory serves, I only studied for about two hours the night before.  Well, I got to the exam and quickly realized I was in over my head.  My overconfidence in my abilities quickly proved to be a big mistake.  While I understood the concepts, I lacked a firm grasp on the details.  I sweated my way through the exam and made a low B on something I should have made a high A.  Since the class only had four grades in it, I had to play catch up and work extra hard the entire rest of the semester to keep an A in that class.

                A lot of times that’s how Lent ends up.  I wasn’t prepared at the beginning, so I spend the rest of the 40 days playing catch up.  I know the concepts of Lent but am unprepared on the details, like that exam.  I don’t really worry about it, because I know I just need to give up something, increase my prayer life, and perform acts of service.  Easy enough, right?  Wrong.

                It’s usually either the night before or the day of that I’m trying to work it all out.  Then I either take on too little or too much.  I don’t meet all of my Lenten promises, and I feel pretty bad about it.  To be honest, it really defeats the purpose of Lent.

                In Lent, God is calling us to repentance.  He is calling us to return to Him with our whole hearts (cf. Joel 2:12).  He is calling us to believe in the Gospel.  He is calling us to prepare our hearts for Him.  I for one am going to do that this Lent.

                The Church calls on us to pray, fast, and give alms during Lent.  The Church is calling us to go through this journey together.  We gather at the beginning of Lent to receive ashes.  We are told to “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”  We are asked to increase our prayers, fast from food on certain days, make a seasonal sacrifice, and to give alms.

                To do this well, we must ask the Lord to show us how.  We must spend this next month in prayer with God imploring him to show us where He is calling us.  Ask Him to show you where your prayer life needs strengthening.  Ask him to show you what in your life is distracting you from Him.  Ask him to show you how you can better help the poor and less fortunate in our city.  Then, ask Him for the strength and the grace to do all of that this Lent.

                Now on paper, it’s pretty easy to sketch out how to prepare for Lent, but as humans, it is always more complicated than it appears.  We all have spiritual and emotional baggage that gets in the way.  Maybe we have a huge sin weighing down on our hearts that is keeping us from fully praying or trusting in God.  Maybe we are in a low point in our prayer life, and it feels like God doesn’t hear us.  Maybe we are just lukewarm in our faith.  Maybe we just don’t feel like we can ever atone for the wrongs we have done.

                Thankfully, God loves us despite all of that.  In fact, He loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die for our sins.  That very Son will be right here in our midst in just a few minutes.  It’s that Son who is calling me and you to come back to Him.

                When Adoration starts, we are going to have some praise and worship music.  During that time, we are going to sing these words by David Crowder, “Come out of sadness From wherever you've been Come broken hearted Let rescue begin Come find your mercy Oh sinner come kneel Earth has no sorrow That heaven can't heal” ("Come As You Are").

                Earth has no sorrow that heaven can’t heal.  Let that sink in.  Don’t let your spiritual baggage prevent you from repenting and believing in the Gospel this Lent.  Lay it all aside.

Lent is not about being perfect and starting this journey towards God.  Lent is about journeying towards God, despite our baggage and imperfections.  Whatever it is that is keeping you from God, keeping you from having the best Lent ever, lay down those burdens and shame.  Give God your heart, and come as you are.

                Don’t wait to start preparing for Lent.  Don’t sit around saying, “I’ll start tomorrow.”  Don’t wait for God to give you a sign that now is the right time.  Our preparation begins today.  As St. Paul said to the Corinthians, “Behold, now is a very acceptable time” (2 Cor. 6:2).