Lent

In the traditional calender we have had the three Sundays of Septuagesima to prepare for this season of Lent, with the purple vestments reminding us to focus our hearts and minds on this penitential season. Unfortunately I have found myself swept away with current events, and so here we are about to receive our ashes this afternoon; what have I prepared?

Perhaps just a willingness to be open to God; to allow him to work in my life ever more closely. Lent is a time to resolve our life in Christ, to focus and perfect our Christian life and practice. The threefold Lenten practice of Fasting, Almsgiving and Prayer is a sure formula for the whole of our Christian lives. But now is the time to awaken from our slumber and do these things with new vigour and zeal, and for the 40 days to ingrain in us a pattern of charitable living.

How does the Church spur us on to do this? Through the liturgy we are reminded and called to meditate on the great mysteries on the Christian Faith. Particularly the culmination of Lent: The Passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our whole Lenten journey is one of uniting our own sacrifices and efforts to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus himself. Of course, the place where this is called to mind most is in the Mass. So I should start by planning to go to Mass more often, wherever possible.

Also a great way to meditate on Christ's suffering is by praying the Stations of the Cross. All churches should have the Stations, beginning on the left of the high altar. It takes about 30 minutes to meditate on these 14 sufferings of Our Lord and His mother, and it is an excellent way to spend time before or after Mass. This practice is best extended to every Friday of our life, when we are always called to make some act of Penance (traditionally abstaining from meat). Last year during Holy Week I used Microsoft Powerpoint to create a presentation which set the music of Franz Liszt's Via Crucis to images from Mel Gibson's film The Passion, with images from the Stations of the Cross (right), and the sung text and translations as well. So really I have no excuse not to perform this devotion regularly, even if I can't make it to church.

The other important aspect of my spiritual life I wish to improve upon is my prayer life. Perhaps I will endeavour to say the Office morning and evening without fail, or at least come some way to say my prayers more regularly. I remember for my private prayers the acrostic A-C-T-S which reminds us to structure our prayer around Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. It is all too easy to jump to the last step and forget all the other things we should bring to our Lord in prayer.

Today, Ash Wednesday, we have the imposition of blessed Ashes upon our forehead, to consecrate all our efforts this Lent to God. It is an act which recalls the early Church practice of public penitents undertaking 40 days of suffering and good works in order to be reconciled to God and the Church. Their sackcloth and ashes would be blessed at the beginning of Lent, and they would be received back into the Church at the Holy Saturday Easter vigil (Left, a practice which still remains for converts today, albeit not quite as harsh!) Around the 11th Century it was recognised that every Christian needed penitence and revival in their faith, so it is now a universal practice for us all, nobis quoque peccatoribus.