Lent: Keep calm and carry on!

It all began so well. It always does. At the start of every Lent, many of us entertain the fantasy that this will be the year everything changes: by Easter we will be masters and mistresses of the spiritual life, living miracles of charity, and all our ongoing temptations and besetting sins will be things of the past. And then life happens. We get sick, and don’t have the energy for the programme of fasting we’d planned; the demands of our work whittle away the time we’d set aside for extra prayer; because it’s nearly the end of term and we’re tired, we find ourselves being irritable and tetchy with our friends. And at that point, it’s very easy to give up: Lent isn’t working – I’ll try again next year.

If this is where we are, three weeks into Lent this year, here are some words of encouragement from our ancestors in the faith in the early centuries of the Church. First, a challenge from St Gregory the Great:

And so, dearly beloved, what every Christian should always be doing must now be performed more earnestly and more devoutly. It is our duty to love both God and our neighbour, and however we may be hindered in other ways, we are always sufficiently free to wish well to others…There are all manner of possible works of mercy and their very variety implies for true Christians that both the rich and poor have opportunities for doing good. Thus, even if we are not all equal in our worldly goods, we can achieve an equal standard in the love of our fellows.

But second, a message of consolation from St John Chrysostom. Looking forward to Easter, he writes: Are there any weary with fasting? Let them now receive their wages! If any have toiled from the first hour, let them receive their due reward; And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour, let him not be afraid by reason of his delay. For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, as well as to him that toiled from the first. You that have kept the fast, and you that have not, rejoice today for the Table is richly laden! Feast royally on it, the calf is a fatted one. Let no one go away hungry. Partake, all, of the cup of faith. Enjoy all the riches of His goodness!

However we have kept Lent – or failed to keep it! – may that Easter joy be ours, too.

Sr Ann

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