What the Lenten season is all about

RELIGION | LENT

The Lent season started on February 14. Below is the edited message of His Grace Dr. Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, the Archbishop of Kampala.
This year, Lent started on February 14.

Each year, on the occasion of Lent, the Church invites us to a sincere review of our life in light of the teachings of the Gospel, hence Lent is a time of grace for intensive prayer, almsgiving and fasting in order to turn our thoughts and actions to God as our Father and Creator.

The theme for this year is, Remember, rejoice, renew as we celebrate this year's Lenten Season 2018

What the Lenten season is about

According to Biblical tradition, Moses stayed on Mount Sinai for 40 days to receive the Law of the Covenant (Exodus 34:28).

Our Lord Jesus Christ fasted for 40 days in the desert before He started His mission. During Lent, we Christians prepare ourselves to celebrate the paschal mystery of our Lord's death and resurrection by a penitential season of forty days called the Lenten season.

So the real aim of Lent is, above all else, to prepare ourselves for the celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ…The better the preparation, the more effective the Easter celebration will be.

One can effectively relive the mystery only with purified mind and heart. The purpose of Lent is, therefore, to provide that purification by weaning men and women from sin and selfishness through self-denial and prayer, by creating in us the desire to do God's will and to make God's kingdom come by making it come first of all in our hearts. That is to say in our own lives.

Penance is a central part in this period. It is the inner conversion from evil in and around us and a generous conversion in love to God and our fellow human beings which are important to achieve this inner conversion, the traditional Lenten practices of prayer, charitable works and even fasting are still relevant today and, should not be considered outdated.

What you give up during Lent is a personal decision, but it should be related to that inner personal conversion to God. That is to say, to be more fervent in prayer, more generous in works of charity, more eager in celebrating the mysteries by which we are reborn so that we come to the fullness of grace that belongs to the sons and daughters of God.

Rejoice as we prepare for Easter

In Pope Francis' Lenten message 2018, the Pope invites the entire Church to experience this time of grace - that is to celebrate the Lenten season, with joy and in the truth.

Joy is essentially a Christian characteristic, and in this Lenten season the Church does not fail to remind us that joy should be present at every moment of our lives. There is a joy proper to the increasing closeness to the risen Christ. It is one and the same joy as that of being united to Christ: only in Him can each one of us say truthfully with St Paul: "He loved me and gave himself up for me" (Gal 2:20).

This should be the source of our greatest happiness, as well as the source of our strength and support. Should we have the misfortune to encounter sorrow, undergo suffering, experience misunderstanding, or even to fall into sin, we shall quickly turn our thoughts to the One who always loves us and who, with his infinite love as God, overcomes in every trial, fills our emptiness, forgives all our sins and eagerly impels us towards a new path that is safe and joyful.

Renew ourselves during the Lenten season
Pope Francis has given us clear guidelines for renewal in this year's

Lenten message 2018

The Pope invites us to be careful of false prophets who lead people astray, he asked all of us to examine our hearts to see "if we are falling prey to the lies of these false prophets" and to learn to look at things more closely, "beneath the surface," and recognise that what comes from God is life-giving and leaves "a good and lasting mark on our hearts."
 
He calls upon us Catholics to use the season of Lent to look for signs and symptoms of being under the spell of false prophets and of living with cold, selfish and hateful hearts.

Together with "the often bitter medicine of the truth" the Church - as mother and teacher - offers us "the soothing remedy of prayer, almsgiving and fasting,"

By devoting more time to prayer, we enable our hearts to root out our secret lies and forms of self-deception, and then to find the consolation God offers. He is our Father and He wants us to live life well.

Almsgiving sets us free from greed and helps us to regard our neighbor as a brother or sister. Urging people to make charitable giving and assistance is a genuine part of their everyday life, the Pope asks us that we shall look at every request for help as a request from God Himself. Pope Francis invites us to look at almsgiving as being part of God's generous and providential plan, and helping his children in need.

Fasting: When we fast, this very act of fasting weakens our tendency to violence; it disarms us and becomes an important opportunity for growth. On the one hand, it allows us to experience what the destitute and the starving have to endure. On the other hand, it expresses our own spiritual hunger and thirst for life in God. Fasting also wakes us up. It makes us more attentive to God and our neighbour's needs. It revives our desire to obey God, who alone is capable of satisfying our hunger.

As Christians, we also need to look for any signs that indicate whether our love for God and others has started to dim or grow cold, the Pope said.

Greed for money. Pope Francis says is a major red flag, because it is the "root of all evil" and soon leads to a rejection of God and his peace.

24 hours for the Lord on March 9 -10, 2018
In the Pope's message, Pope Francis also reminds all of us to take part in the "24 Hours for the Lord" initiative on March 9-10.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I wish you all a fruitful Lenten Season for this year, 2018.

May this penitential season be for every Christian a time of authentic conversion and intense knowledge of the mystery of Christ, who came to save us all!  May this Lenten Season also express our spiritual hunger and thirst for Life in God.  Fasting should make us awake and make us more attentive to God and our neighbour.  It should also revive our desire to obey God whose love is capable of satisfying our hunger.

God bless you all and have a Blessed and fruitful Lent!

Yours sincerely in Christ our Redeemer and Saviour,

†Cyprian Kizito Lwanga
Archbishop of Kampala