Welcome to Lent, everyone. Welcome to 40-plus days (actual number dependent upon how you handle Sundays, solemnities, and so on) of prayer, fasting, almsgiving, “giving up” things, and not eating meat on certain days.
There are so many things one can do to make your Lent the Lent-y-est Lent ever.
Of course, these are all things one could do during any time of the year, but most of us seem to find that extra motivation to do them between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.
There are many ways to do Lent right, but the wrong way is to pray less, fast less, and give fewer alms once He is risen.
I’ve always recommended working on things that you can see yourself doing on Easter morning and beyond. Make Lent a truly life-changing experience.
A new look at a mystery
Something commonly done during Lent in the category of “I need to _______ more” is praying the Rosary.
The most Lent way of praying the Rosary during Lent is praying the Sorrowful Mysteries.
These are, wording dependent on your resource and catechesis: The Agony in the Garden, The Scourging at the Pillar, The Crowning With Thorns, The Carrying of the Cross, and The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus.
Let’s take a look at one of them, namely The Scourging at the Pillar.
This is a painful one to think about in more ways than one.
Those who were moved by the film The Passion of the Christ commonly reference this scene in the movie. Seeing it once was more than enough for me.
The Scourging allows us to unite ourselves with Christ’s Passion and Death.
We can reflect on the times when we have suffered. We can reflect on the times when we have been hurt by others. We can reflect on the times when we have been unfairly judged and punished by others, and sometimes those close to and trusted by us.
Those aren’t the only things we can unite ourselves to. There’s another part to the story we don’t often think about.
Have you ever been responsible for someone’s suffering? Have you ever hurt others? Have you unfairly judged or punished someone? Have you hurt someone close to you or someone who trusted you? Worse yet, do you think you might have done these things and not realized it due to your own pride and weakness?
I have you. You have. We have. Guess what, we are scourgers too. Not only have we been hurt but we dish out the pain as well.
Would you like to pause on that for a moment? I know I did when I thought about this the other day.
If you feel bad in any sort of way or don’t know what to do with this new information in your life, that’s OK. You’ve — we’ve, all of us — just taken the first step to loving others better.
Seeking mercy
We’ve accepted the fact that while our brothers and sisters are out there uniting themselves to the Passion, we may be the cause of some of their pain.
Let’s be sorry for that and sorrowful.
Let’s seek forgiveness from God and others (if possible and applicable).
More importantly, let’s do better next time and far into the future.
If you need all of Lent to think about this, go ahead, but do get to Confession as soon as you can if you need to.
Keep thinking about how many times you’ve brought “agony” to someone, handed them their crosses or made them heavier, or had a hand in them dying a little bit inside.
If it’s been done to us, we’ve probably done it to others.
There is hope.
Lent is a time of conversion and now is the time of our conversion.
Put down those things in our lives that would hurt and scourge others.
Let’s be the ones who help carry the crosses.
Let’s be the ones who ask the Lord to remember us when He is in His Kingdom.
Let us not deny Him or those we love.
Let’s be at the cross and at the tomb in the morning for those we love.
Make your Lenten and life goal to to say two things better and more meaningfully — “I’m sorry” and “I love you” to God and neighbor.
Thank you for reading.
I’m praying for you.