Create in me a new heart, O Lord
The Lenten season is here again, and we already connect ourselves to its rhythm and reality. A time to fast, to pray and to be charitable the more. A very wonderful time to pick up again favorite devotions and practices: reception of Ashes on our foreheads, journeying with Christ’s suffering through the stations of the cross, participating in meals that do not contain meat on Fridays, wearing purple fabric to go with the liturgical color of the season and greatly anticipating the Easter Liturgies. The Lenten season in the real sense has a lot of excitement about it and we greatly commend the various efforts people make to part of the practices of the season and we hope that God keeping us alive and strong, the Lenten journey with all its religious and social practices and devotion will greatly yield great fruits in our day to day experiences as we navigate life with the different challenges we will confront.
It is always very key to keep stressing the essential theme and focus of the Lenten journey, which is the end value of the various socio-religious practices that characterize the Lenten season. The focus of the Lenten journey is repentance and having a renewed life in our openness to God who calls to ongoing conversion process. As far as we are humans, we are trapped in the reality of weaknesses, shortcomings and inadequacies, despite our many areas of strength and virtuous living. No one has gotten to that stage of holiness and perfection. The room is always there for us to be better and keep remodeling ourselves according to God’s plan for us. The efforts of the Lenten season are geared towards on-going conversion and repentance through the active Grace of God who supports us in this whole process of transformation that will always be beneficial to us. These efforts in simple term are connected to turning towards God in helping us to put aside our garb of weaknesses and sins, to wear again the clean garb of holiness and righteousness that we all received during our baptism.
The Lenten journey is principally geared towards repentance from those vices that drag us down and make a mockery of our identity as God’s ambassadors in the world. The journey of repentance is an ongoing one, not just a once for all reality, demanding true openness to the grace of God that opens our eyes to the areas of failings in our lives and makes us to desire a better life, which will prompt a sense of truly wanting to get rid of such vices. Our focus must not divert from the true fruit of the Lenten season: Repentance or conversion. God wants us to have a better life characterized by authentic virtues and true love. He is not there in our experiences to condemn us but to help us embrace a better life. Let us truly be opened to Him and make Him create a new heart in us during this Lenten season.
Fr. Emmanuel Alao.