Reaping Lenten Fruits

There is something beautiful about lent, and there is something bad too in equal measure. The annual period of penance and repentance, lasting for 40 days, is observed so religiously by most of the traditional Catholics that they all might seem to be closer to the heaven than the others. The austerity with which they do fast and engage in spiritual activities, such as pilgrimages, extra time spent on every Friday for the Stations of the Cross, there are all signs that this season is truly a season of grace for all of them. But that much is the beautiful side of the lent.

There is also an ugly side to the season of “grace”. I could speak for my family; my parents fast for all the 40 days of lent, and skip one meal every day religiously; even if they fall sick, and require strength to carry on, they would not have food to sustain their body and mind. The rigor with which they do this ritual is sometimes frightening. Instead of this piety becoming a means to a greater union with the suffering Lord, and the less fortunate brothers and sisters of the society, the means often take the sway, and the end is often lost. My mother would go all the way to stick to the special pieties during the lent, while her quarrels with my father would go on unceasingly.

Let me add another dimension to the innumerable shades of meanings and significance that the season reminds us of. I would like to break the four letters of the world LENT, to imply LISTEN with EMPATHY to your NEIGHBORS TODAY. This is one thing that takes so much of strength and courage for us to do; we hear the cry of the people around us, but most often we are not touched; their cry stop with our ear drums, they do not enter into our hearts; sometimes the cries that come from all quarters are capable of transforming us, but only when we allow these cries to enter into us. Lent is a season to keep our ears and hearts open!

Every member of Israel is said to have carved the holy words of ‘Shema Israel’ (listen o Israel), and they were expected to inscribe these words, put them in an amulet and tie it on their foreheads, their wrists, in order to remind themselves that they are to listen to their God. LISTEN! The world around is fast forgetting the art of listening to oneself, neighbor, nature, and to God. Naturally when we fail to listen to the inner murmurings of our heart, we cannot listen to our neighbors, and when we cannot listen to ourselves and our neighbors, the cry of nature is addressed to barren grounds, and God would then remain just an unreachable destination.

In the next four reflections, we shall take a closer look at the four key words we have proposed for lent, listening, empathy, neighbor and today, and all of them have something to remind us about our own spiritual journey. Lent alone cannot make our entire spiritual journey; this is one of the key phases of our journey, but then there are other phases, and it is only when we make a smooth transition from one phase to another, from Christmas joy to the sorrow of lent and then proceed to experience the peace of the Risen Lord during the ordinary season of the liturgical calendar. Lent is an invitation to go deeper into our selves, for that is where we may encounter the Lord of our hearts.