The Catholic calendar ushers in the Lenten season on February 17 this year with the observance of Ash Wednesday. Christian devotees have themselves marked with an ashen cross on their foreheads to remind themselves of the biblical maxim, “Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return.” In an age where the profession of one’s faith is sometimes seen to be an aberration, it was enlightening to note that even in the world of Mammon, you could see men and women in business suits with that black mark on their foreheads.
This year it is even more significant because 2021 celebrates the five hundred years of Christianity in the Philippines, the faith having been brought to us in 1521 with the coming of the Spaniards who came not only to conquer us but also to deliver to us the Christian faith.
What does Lent really mean to Catholics? For starters, it has nothing to do most certainly with such practices as self-flagellation, or being crucified in Pampanga on Good Friday – practices which have become fodder for morbid tourism. Penance and mortification remain among the more important teachings of the Church Sadly, today’s world would rather have a watered-down Christianity from which the cross of voluntary mortification and penance is removed under the pretext that these practices are the remains of the Dark Ages or of an outworn medieval era, quite inappropriate for a modern humanistic age, in which man arrogates to himself that he is god. .
The paradox of mortification is that it is closely related to joy. Most people think that during Lent one should walk around with “pious” (read glum) faces, punish oneself with outrageous practices, fast and abstain from all pleasures. Others need not see that you are mortifying yourself (keep it a secret between God and yourself).
God does not will us to suffer. Self-denial brings joy, even in the midst of pain, because it is done with love. How is it that mothers can go through such tremendous sacrifices for their children, or parents working overseas accept the pain of separation from their family for the good of their loved ones? Can a God Who loves His children do any less?
Lent in fact is a joyful time, because “now is the time of salvation.” Although Lent gives a message of penance and mortification, it is actually replete with joy and hope. It is a time to listen to God who continues to call out to us, “Come back to me! Give me your love!”
We are not called to go to tortuous lengths. We don’t have to get physically crucified. Our crucifixion can consist in accepting all those little things, inconveniences perhaps, that come our way each day, and offering them as our acts of penance and mortification. Your boss yelled at you? Resist the urge to tell the world what a bear your boss is, but instead take the humiliation manfully and silently tell our Lord that you wish to share His humiliation before the crowds. The COVID 19 has taken away your freedom to go about where you like and confine you to your homes? Be thankful and obey the protocols that protect you from the virus. Your mother-in-law is such a pain in the lower region? Love her for giving you your spouse!
The important thing is not the magnitude of the sacrifice – the important thing is offering up the daily albeit small inconveniences as an expression of our love. “Mababaw ang kaligayahan ni Lord,” and just as a parent would smilingly accept from a little child’s smudged drawing or a slightly wilted flower as a gift, our smudged offerings are all our Father God asks from us. Let’s not be worried about Lent, but be joyful, because at the end of it is salvation and resurrection.
Indeed we can rejoice that Lent is part of our having received the grace of our faith five hundred years ago, and that Christianity has taught us the values and virtues that we must possess and share in a world that has become materialistic and hedonistic.