You Called and You Shouted!

Isn't that what Lent is all about? God calling us?

I'm a Catholic and proud of it. As I get older, I've been trying to dive deeper into the meaning of what Lent actually is. When I was little I thought it was a torture device designed to torment young children by forcing them to give up stuff. Yeah, not really.

Lent in a sentence is basically denying ourselves material things in order to make ourselves remember to reach out to God.

People can get so caught up in every day life that they forget to talk to God. I usually don't reach out to God on a regular, through the day basis, and I'm guessing that most other people don't either. They reach out at specific times, like when they're in Church, or else when they're in trouble. Not usually when everything is going great.

The idea of Lent is to give up something that holds a regular pattern in their life so that, when they come to the point in their day when they would usually do/say/whatever the thing, they remember to talk to God, and probably ask him for his help in fasting. I'm fasting in between meals this year and I know that it helps me to remember.

HOWEVER: Many people seem to think that Lent is only about fasting- not so much about the reaching. I can get to a point where the fasting becomes regular and I forget to reach. That's not so good at ALL.

All throughout the Bible, God is calling for his people to return to justice and goodness-- to return to Him! He says so many times in the Bible that it is absolutely useless to offer Him sacrifices if they are not going to obey His law and show him their love.

I see fasting as the sacrifice. It's great-- but it's useless without the reaching, the striving to grow closer to God and gain purity of heart.

This Lent, I challenge you: don't just fast and forget about it. The whole point of this season is to grow closer to God through suffering (that's when we reach, right?). The fasting is pointless is you're not trying to love.

-Tina