Why Lent?

At the end of winter each year, Catholics prepare for Easter with a season called Lent. By many modern day standards, lent is somewhat paradoxical- about giving away rather than getting; about your happiness rather than mine. It's not "Make America Great Again" but "Make America Good Again". It's not "Have it your way" Burger King style; but rather, don't be so worried if someone puts "GASP" an onion on your burger.

Lent starts with Ash Wednesday- the ultimate humility lesson. We proceed forward and the priest or a congregation member draws the sign of the cross on our foreheads, stating "Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return". This phrase is humility in its essence. If we were smack talking while playing basketball, this is the equivalent of "You an't all that".  God tells us this in a loving way. We are reminded in this scripture passage of the Genesis' creation account, where God forms Adam out of clay. The essence behind it is that we are creatures, created by a loving God. Our existence depends on Him who created us.  We cannot create new life on our own, nor can we will our own existence or even survival, no matter how many protein shakes we slurp or quinoa salads we crunch. Humility literally means "down or of the earth". We are organic beings at our core. No matter how mighty we try to rise, we need to recognize this, and recognize the humanity of others sharing the earth with us, as well.  

 

This biblical passage from Genesis is a quote from God: "Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return". God tells this to Adam and Eve in the garden right after the fall (Genesis 6). This passage reminds us that as humans, we have the tendency to make mistakes. No matter our best intentions, we wind up messing up, screwing up, putting someone down, losing our temper, falling into temptation, picking a fight, or glorifying ourselves, to name a few of the possibilities. This concept is known to Catholics as Original Sin. And it is perfectly normal and natural! Paradoxically, Christ reminds is that this is both normal and natural, but also that we are called to do better. Sin is in our default programming, but Christ rewrote the code to allow us to have an operating system that actually works! Weekly, monthly (or yearly!) partaking in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (AKA Confession) is the antivirus software He runs to keep us functioning in a state of grace. If you are not Catholic, then I would recommend personal repentance to the Lord, who is infinitely merciful.  

Even though we are reminded of our organic nature by Ash Wednesday, Lent at the same time reminds us that we are more. At its heart, Lent is a time that reminds us that we cannot be satisfied solely by the stuff of this world- "I can only rest when I rest in you". We are born to seek. We are born for higher fulfillment- a desire that always directs us towards God.  This means that although we are "of the earth" in our very nature, our soul hungers for more. We can see this time and again in our consumer society. If getting "stuff" truly satisfied us, those with more "stuff" would be more satisfied and those who had less would automatically be less satisfied. I get the sense that greed is the disordered passion for finding something that satisfies, that sets us on a path to desire more and more earthly goods. But nothing of this earth can satisfy, which is why we see many well-to-do people so thoroughly unsatisfied. Lent turns the equation on its ear.  Lent's new equation- Stuff + Stuff ≠ Happiness. By giving up something material, we realize that we didn't need it or want it to begin with. Lent reminds us we don't need this stuff, really. Lent is all about cleaning out the closet.