Lent is around the corner. While scripture readings and reflections of these days are slowly getting oriented towards the passivity and meaning of life, surprisingly here in India the nature too seems to be entering into a deep meditation as the summer reached at the doorway: trees strip off their canopy, roads are covered with withered leaves; the crunchy and crackling sound of footsteps over them hums the rhythm of eternity. However, these cyclical elements in the Lent pose one important question, is the Lent seasonal, a recurrent point in the spiritual calendar of Christians? Come let’s start from a rose flower. The following are the different stages or steps towards the flowering of a rose flower in our garden or balconies.
1. We see rose flowers in someone else garden or in a nursery or somewhere we visited.
2. We desire for it to have on our balconies too.
3. We get a stem from it.
4. We prepare either the plot or the pot, depending on the space available to us.
5. We plant it.
6. We water it every day and manure it occasionally.
7. Finally, it buds, flowers and it’s time for selfie, reels, shots, status… depends on which maniac we are, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube etc.
Of course, there are ready-flowered roses available in the market, but sorry we’re not talking about a baseborn rose, but a legitimate one.
Similarly, the preparatory period of Lent also involves same steps as in the case of Rose:
1. Perceiving examples of a virtuous life from the scripture, from the history, from the society and from our own families.
2. The desire for those virtues to have them grown in us.
3. Preparing ourselves by frequent reception of sacraments as well as abstaining from what we ourselves know as harmful for our wellbeing. It could be drinks, money, lust, gossiping, jealously, gluttony and the like.
4. Once the ground is prepared, one should not stay idle or wait for long. Sow the seeds of virtues immediately, otherwise more vicious weeds will cover up our life. Because, In the Gospel of Mathew 12: 45 we read about return of the evil spirit back to where it was casted out from, with seven other spirits more dangerous than itself. Thus, fill the empty jars with virtuous water, God will turn it into sparkling wine of grace.
5. The fifth stage is the toughest stage of all – regular and consistent watering! Consistency is the most difficult virtue to practice. It is the virtue of virtues. Without this, all other virtues go futile. Consistency does not strictly mean a winning streak or sequence of success alone. On the contrary, it is the unformidable will that is never beaten up by any number of failures. In consistency, the last laugh is ours and ours only: “Death has been swallowed up in victory, where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? (1 Cor 15:55)”. A consistent journey of virtuous life is like the feeble steps of the infant to the hands of its mother or father: it falls, again gets up continues the walk and finally with great joy falls into the hands of its mother or father. At that moment of joy, it forgets the pain and tears it shed upon its falling. Dear friends, to slightly modify the words of Albert Einstein, “Virtuous life is like riding a bicycle, to keep our balance, we must keep moving”. This journey is not limited to just 40 days, but until we reach into the hands of our Father in heaven.
6. And the final step – the fruit! The biblical understanding of fruit is not something as seasonal. Christians are expected to bear fruits even when it is not the time of fruits. Quite odd right! How can it be fruitful when it is not the season of fruits? It’s meaning has to be understood with footnotes to the love commandment. “If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also and if someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic as well (Lk 6:29)”. When someone strikes us on our cheek it is not the season of fruits – we can give it back, it's self-defence; but the Christian ideal is to bear fruits even when it is not expected, even when you could do the otherwise – turn to him the other also.
Dear friends these six steps: Perception, Desire, Preparation, Planting, Nurturing and Yielding of a fruitful Lent ultimately point to that the Lent is not something seasonal, not just limited to just 40 calendar days, but it’s a lifelong mission of every Christian to live poetically. Like Pope Francis tells, “It is not we have a mission but we are the mission,” so as it is not, we are on lent but we are the lent. Perception, Desire, Preparation, Planting, Nurturing and Yielding are not just limited to a temporal frame work, but it is inseparably united with our entire life. That is the meaning of Jesus Call, “the kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe in the good news.” Lent begins not on the Ash Wednesday, but here and now. Wishing you a fruitful and virtuous Lenten Season.