Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
James Martin, S.J.March 02, 2020
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Subscribe to “The Examen” for free on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to “The Examen” for free on Google Play
Join our Patreon Community

For many people, Lent arrives not with a sense of eager anticipation but with dread. Some people have told me that it calls up memories of previous Lents, when they feel that they have failed in their efforts to do some great Lenten sacrifice or penance. 

If that’s the case, maybe you can see it in a new way. Lent is the period of spiritual preparation that leads to Easter. During Lent we traditionally follow the three pillars of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Many people do other penances—giving things up—which is a worthwhile pursuit if it helps you to be more loving and generous. 

Let me suggest a more basic goal. The word most often used in the Gospels for repentance is “metanoia,” which means a change of mind and heart. Some of that has to do with repentance as we understand the word, but it’s more of a reorientation of your life—whether that means being more loving, more generous, more faithful, more trusting, more open. So this Lent maybe you could pray not simply for the willingness to give up chocolate, but to become a more loving person, day by day, in your own way. Try to see it as not simply a “giving up” but an invitation from God to become the person God wants you to be. 

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

A priest in a Roman collar speaks into a microphone
There are urgent “structural and practical issues that led me to disassociate myself” from the papal commission of sex abuse, Father Hans Zollner said.
brown cross on a mountain with sun in the background
A Reflection for Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent, by Michael Simone, S.J.
Michael Simone, S.J.March 29, 2023
pope francis speaks into a microphone
Pope Francis went to Rome’s Gemelli hospital March 29 for “some previously planned tests,” the Vatican press office said, providing no further details.
Edwin O’Connor, whose life and literary career were abruptly cut short by his 1968 death at the age of 49, captured the imagination of his audience like few other authors of his time.
James T. KeaneMarch 28, 2023