The War on Lent

“The War on Christmas” is a ruse – there are more Christmas lights, more Christmas greetings, and more Christmas celebrations every year. And while Christians, and those who appropriate Christianity for personal gain, cry out that secularism has stripped Christmas of Christ, the only sane response to the allegation is, “Bah! Humbug!”

The real war is the “War on Lent.” For centuries, faithful Christians have taken the forty-days and forty-nights from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday to be a time of sincere and deep self-examination. Unfortunately, the season has been written out of some traditions and practice (“It’s too serious.”), or has become a website pop-up survey (“Which of the following do you do during Lent? A. Read the Bible B. Replace beef with haddock. C. Swear less. D. Other”).

Lent demands the seriousness of looking into a mirror and being honest with ourselves. It needs more than a buffet of giving up and taking on of novel actions. Christians don’t always seize the blessings of a season that invites us to remove the mask and shed the armor of religious hedonism, and view ourselves through the eyes of God who has gifted us with gifts we don’t employ: empathy, sympathy, generosity, and love.

My Jewish friends take the period of penitence from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur extraordinarily seriously. My Muslim friends enter the month of Ramadan with a piety that is worth emulating. If we Christians honestly took the time to examine how our actions affirmed our love of God and the love for our fellow humans, imagine the hope, peace, and justice that would be released into our lives, our homes, our communities, and our world.

In the War on Lent, for Christians, our only enemy is ourselves; and we are an adversary worth confronting, knowing that the battle waged will end in our triumphant reconciliation with our Creator and with one another.

With compassion and mercy, let us love and serve the Lord.

Fr. Shawn+