Its Lenten season again, so to speak…
a time for reflection and transformation…. It is a season of forty days, that begins on
Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday, ends after the Easter Vigil Mass, with joyful anticipation of the Christ Resurrection
on Easter Sunday
Lent is a
time of penance and self-sacrifice , honoring the passion and death of Christ
and His resurrection. The season of Lent gives us time to renew and deepen our
faith in the Lord Jesus. Probably the most common devotion is reading the Bible
and saying the Rosary….. this draws us closer Him.
It has become a regular practice that
during this season, some visits several or at least 7 churches (bisita
iglesia), reads the Passion of Christ (Pabasa), does the Station of the Cross and
goes to confession. One very traditional practice is fasting.
Fasting is not just giving up on food and
festivities or habits… its giving up on things like hatred, unforgiving, selfishness, bitterness, jealousy, laziness and anything excessive. No matter how much time you spend fasting, no
matter how you hurt yourself and sigh continuously, if you do no good to
others, you do nothing great. This is the time that we take up practices that help us become aware of and responsive to the needs of others especially the elderly and the poor. Even showing an act of kindness to others or to persons difficult to like, or visiting a friend who is sick. Look around you, there maybe a kid with whom you can share your food to or give a blanket to warm him. There might be an elderly wanting to cross the street, but having a hard time to.
We can help
by acts of charity, reaching out to both those near and far through many
charitable organizations. Any act showing this concern for
others by small yet concrete signs of our belonging to the one human family is more than
enough.
As what Pope Francis said, “God has given us so much even though we are
not deserving, so we should give something in return that will be beneficiary
to others”.
Rather than seeing Lent as a sacrifice, we should see it as a beautiful experience
that will lead us closer to God.
Let us
prepare ourselves for His coming…..
Happy Easter Everyone....
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