Every year the purpose of Lent is the same: Prepare for Easter.
Yet every year there are new, rich, and wonderful things we can learn about God and ourselves as we prepare for the celebration of Christ\u2019s resurrection and ascension into glory.
During Lent the Church focuses our attention on two themes, baptismal and penitential. Indeed, the Lenten season has a twofold character:
1) it recalls baptism or prepares for it; and
2) it stresses the penitential spirit (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, #109).
This baptismal and penitential context of Lent provides the basis for our learning. So, we might ask, what does the church want us to learn?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are to reflect upon what it means to be united with Christ in baptism. The paschal mystery (Christ\u2019s passion, death, resurrection) and our connection to that mystery are the basis for our learning and reflection during Lent. The depth and breadth of this \u201cmystery\u201d are so great that every year the church asks us to spend six weeks reflecting upon and learning from it.
There is always something new to learn from the mystery of baptism. The very fact that we call it a \u201cmystery\u201d means that there is always more to know about the meaning of our unity with Christ\u2019s death and resurrection. The church helps us learn more about our baptism through the prayers, songs, gestures and symbols and God\u2019s Word in our Lenten liturgies.
It is important that keep our eyes and ears wide open toward our baptism each year as we feel the ashes, set our eyes on the purple and pass by the baptismal font. What does this say to us about our own death to sin and life in Christ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once again, the prayers and symbols and God\u2019s Word in our penitential liturgies are the primary way the church teaches us to recognize personal and communal sin.
What will we learn this Lent about our role, our country\u2019s role, our church\u2019s role in the sin we see around us?
And how will what we learn prepare us for the triumph of Easter and our renewed life in Christ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rev Dr John Frauenfelder<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every year the purpose of Lent is the same: Prepare for Easter. Yet every year there are new, rich, and wonderful things we can learn about God and ourselves as we prepare for the celebration of Christ\u2019s resurrection and ascension into glory. During Lent the Church focuses our attention on two themes, baptismal and penitential. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":28675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[38,45,26,44,24,55,8,32,50,41,25,51,34,54,47,31,42,39,48,46,52,40,37,35,28,43,53,36,27,33,29],"class_list":["post-28674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter","tag-ancient-wisdom","tag-contemplative-prayer","tag-enlightenment","tag-guided-meditation","tag-inner-peace","tag-introspection","tag-lectio-divina","tag-lectio-divina-for-beginners","tag-life-transformation","tag-meditation-guide","tag-meditation-mastery","tag-meditation-tips","tag-mindfulness","tag-mindfulness-meditation","tag-mindfulness-practices","tag-mindfulness-techniques","tag-personal-development","tag-reflect-and-transform","tag-reflective-living","tag-sacred-reading","tag-self-discovery","tag-self-help","tag-soulful-journey","tag-soulful-living","tag-spiritual-awakening","tag-spiritual-growth","tag-spiritual-guide","tag-spiritual-insights","tag-spiritual-practice","tag-spiritual-reflection","tag-transformative-journey"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t