Three Reasons: Lent Edition

Linking up with the lovely Micaela over at California to Korea for Three Reasons I Love Lent. 

The Three Reasons is one of my favorite link-ups and I've been so delinquent in posting, but I've been rolling around my Lenten reasons for a while now.



{1} Unity

Lent is a time we are reminded of who we are through suffering (fasting/abstaining), and we do it together.  This is more than a New Year's resolution or a fad diet.....this is us a community of believers, laying down something to refine our souls.  And we're all sharing in this time, at the same time, together.  That's beautiful.  Imagine the grace that must pour down during this time of year.  Never is there a time throughout the liturgical calendar when we, as Catholics, are so very unified.  It's worth the suffering.

{2} Intentionality

Faith life is one of those things that can easily get put behind all the corporal needs and wants of life.  It's so easy to forget we're on a journey with a final destination while we're thinking about home improvement projects, our children's education and any other number of worthwhile ventures.  Lent draws us back.  It centers us.  Just like the beautiful picture above (from Micaela) of the candle's journey, we journey intentionally back to the center of our faith, Christ resurrected.

{3}  Thinning of the veil

I think in large part due to the unity and intentionality I feel this time of year, I also feel much closer to the spiritual world.  The veil is stretched thin and we can feel much more readily the presence of the Holy Spirit...especially as we journey through Lent to Easter to Pentecost.  Our spiritual side becomes more sensitive, as we deny our physical side and tune our mental side to the spiritual. 

As a child, I hated Lent.  It was a time of drudgery for me.  As an adult, I'm still not a 100% fan of the whole no-meat...but mostly, because it causes me to plan better to feed my family on Fridays.  Now, this time of year is more about refinement and purification, an invitation to take the next step.  In the wisdom and beauty of the Church, they know we're not able to operate at such a fever-pitch all year round and tend to stray, but this time of year is a call back to our good habits, to lay down our vices and to engage more fully in the richness of our faith. 

This Lent, for every person in some way offended or hurt by the Church, I pray for their hearts.  I pray they may know our unconditional love and find in the Church the welcoming home laid out for them.  All of them.  The Church is Christ's bride, the visible, real vehicle of our ultimate happiness with Him someday in heaven.  Come home.  The structure is meant to free you, not to bind you.  We love you, come home.

Even with small children, we try to go to the Easter Vigil each year.  Because I want to remember, and I want my children to know that joy of coming home.  Let us not be the older son, chastising the father for his love of the prodigal son, let us remember, we too are prodigal, and are offered that same love.

Prayers for a holy Lent and joyous Easter.