Lenten Reflection - Father Bill Labbe

I have to confess that, knowing this was going to be my pondering on Lent, I scoured my files to find something that I could recycle. After all, what more can be said about this season. We give something up, we pray a little more, and we volunteer to help out somewhere. By doing this, we hit all the themes of the season and can celebrate the end of Lent knowing that we did all we were supposed to do. There is only one problem with this way of thinking, as faithful as we are to the disciplines of Lent - prayer, fasting, and almsgiving - if we are exactly the same at the end of Lent as we were at the beginning, then we have wasted the season.

The disciplines that we commit ourselves to during Lent are meant to have an effect in our lives. They are to be the fuel that inspires us to turn away from sin. They are the light that dispels the darkness that prevents us from seeing that we are Easter people destined for eternal life with Jesus. The disciplines of Lent are the way we grow into the saints we were created to be.

The season calls us to recommit ourselves to prayer. If we think of prayer as conversation with our maker, we can understand why it is so important. Our conversations with God allow us to know God and for Him to know us. Our invocation of the saints and our attention to the promptings of the Holy Spirit draw us deeper into the relationship that is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Prayer moves us way beyond knowing about God to knowing God intimately. As we prepare for Lent, we need each ask ourselves, how am I going to spend more time in conversation with God in the next forty days?

In fasting, we commit ourselves to getting our priorities in order. Who among us isn’t attracted to the shiny and new? In our search for happiness and contentment we all find ourselves grasping for the passing things of this world. We become comfortable with what the world tells us we must have to be happy; to be successful. As much as we intend to avoid it, we make treasures things that are here today and gone tomorrow. Our deliberate denying ourselves of a comfort, of a favorite thing, of something we crave means that we can fill that longing with treasure that last forever. Reaching for the grace that only God can give, growing our faith in the person and promises of Jesus, working tirelessly to live a virtuous life are all ways in which we can find true and lasting happiness.

So how will we be gathering and storing the treasures of heaven in the next 40 days? By giving alms, offering our gifts in service to others, we become the hands of Jesus at work in our world. We see the power of love to make the world a better place. Through the sharing of our time, talent, and treasure during this season, we continue the work of Jesus and point to the kingdom of God present in our midst.

So how are we going to be proclaiming the kingdom of God in the next 40 days? Over the 40 days of Lent, we should be conversing more with God, gathering the  treasures of heaven, and proclaiming the presence of the kingdom of God. Keeping in mind that each of these activities comes with its own reward, why would we want to stop doing them after just 40 days? As our Lenten disciplines make us truly rich, sincerely happy, and at home with the Lord shouldn’t they become a part of every day of our lives?If we are exactly the same at the end of Lent as we were at the beginning, we have wasted the season.

Father Wilfred Labbe is pastor of St. Matthew Parish in Limerick and St. Thérèse of Lisieux Parish in Sanford.