In Catholic tradition, this season is dedicated to remembering the life, passion, death and resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ, prior to his ascension to heaven. The Christian tradition has kept the focus on the last days of the lord as this is the greatest story of the orchestration of the divine love towards humanity. This noble sacrifice of human flesh to the accomplishment of the divine plan - is a wonderful story.
But should this be just a wonderful story to remember of? Many sages have told us that the life of Christ is a symbol-- A reserved path for those who have stepped on the ladder to achieving a nobler spiritual destiny. His life and death are the epitomai of spiritual maturity, the one who has succeeded in suffering and has grown understanding that is beyond our human cognition.
Many Christians have complex and different ways of commemorating this symbolism, but let me tell you some of the things we can consider to help us attain a meaningful keeping of this tradition.
Prayer. During Lent, the keepers of the tradition utilize this season to soak themselves in prayers. Prayer is a declaration and the cultivation of our heart's desires. We usually do this to discipline our minds into oneness with the divine presence. In prayer, we are concentrating our cognition on the deep presence of the lord, the Word, or the universe. We subscribe our intention to the higher frequencies, the greatest of all benevolence, and the absolute.
This is the best time to cast our prayers and cultivate our heart's contents. Let all expressions of love and purity be expressed in prayer, and may all beings be open to receive the grace from our noble intentions.
Fasting. Fasting is the abstinence from clinging & aversions to worldly comforts and discomforts. We mostly associate this with food intake, like a practitioner may stop eating pork, or any meat for the entire holy week. But fasting can transcend into other processes. For example; A person may fast from evil deeds or unwise thoughts, if a person often lies, and he realized that it is wrong, a person may commit not to speak lies from this day on. In other words, this fasting is the effort of unlinking ourselves to the worldly chains.
Fasting can help us reflect on the things more important. It also draws us to focus on heavenly stuff rather than secular things, which only drives us to pleasure, addiction, and despair.
Meditation. The Lent is very perfect for introspection. Introspection is evaluating our lives, ourselves, our tendencies, strengths and shortcomings, etc, which can be attained by sustained awareness brought by meditation and reflections. In one whole year, we are very busy with life responsibilities, and duties and some people utilize this period to practice meditation.
Meditation is knowing more about ourselves, the more that you go into deeper concentrations, the more that you will discover your truest self.. and realize thet you have divine origin.
Almsgiving. The purification of our thoughts, desires and actions is the source of developing ourselves closer to the divine. Almsgiving, is one of the practices which we can utilize to challenge ourselves if we really have made ourselves purer. When we give, we notice a subtle sensation. Do we feel happy? or not? Do we give without expecting anything in return? because if you do feel discomfort, then the faculty of generosity still needs to be purified.
The wisest of all teachers, Jesus Christ is a master of generosity, to the point of giving himself to the world. What can you give that the world will be happier or better? This is the challenge of almsgiving.
The story of Jesus Christ is a symbol of transformation; from the earth-bound life changed into a heaven-bound existence. We all have the chance of making ourselves become holier, little by little. This season is an opportunity to realize this principle-- we were born with a purpose, and that is to wake up each day and be closer and closer to the divine. We are challenged to walk like Christ, to give ourselves for the benefit of humanity, to be humbled and work with happiness.
"This season is an opportunity to realize this principle-- we were born with a purpose, and that is to wake up each day and be closer and closer to the divine."
The Lent is a moment of self-renewal. This is the perfect time to cultivate our good self, and live our life deserving of Christ's grace. May all beings find peace and comfort in all endeavors and undertakings in life. Peace, peace, peace.
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