Lent can be cheerful? Yes!
If somebody asks me whether Lent is meant to be depressing, I tell them, “The farthest thing from it!”
Yes, Lent is a time of penance, where God asks us to make up for the sins we have committed. But this isn’t depressing, it should actually make us feel more cheerful because we are doing something positive to show from our hearts that we understand we have done wrong. When we repent and seek forgiveness, God will forgive. That assurance of God’s forgiveness should bring happiness into our lives.
Lent is also a special time to ask God’s help for everything we need in life. But to ask, we need to set aside the buzz of everyday living and concentrate on Him. So, we give up partying and over-indulging in food and drink so we can ask effectively. In other words, we fast and pray to “silence the appetites,” so we can start a conversation with God. You can’t talk to someone if there is a lot of confusion and chaos and noise going on around you.
This year, Covid 19 has handed us another way to accept sufferings that will draw us closer to God. For a year now, we’ve experienced all the ways a pandemic restrict normal living. We can offer up to God all these serious and even life threatening events that are affecting our lives, and He will bless us in ways we can’t even imagine because we have turned to Him for help, and trusted Him.
Today, we also know there is a lot of evil in the world, and so, more than ever this Lent, it’s important to recall the lesson of Jonah. We learn from Scripture that when Jonah warned the worldly city of Nineveh that it would be destroyed unless it repented, all the citizens put on sackcloth and ashes and repented of the evil things they had done. Because they repented, God changed His mind and spared them! Now, we know God doesn’t “change His mind” the way we change out minds like we change a pair of shoes. What the words mean is that God accepted their change of heart and therefore He adjusted His response to them.
During this Lent, He is listening closely to our willingness to reform our lives. If we each do our part to reform society, and stand up to protect the unborn, little children, and the most vulnerable among us, we may be able to turn aside God’s anger. This is not a depressing thing at all. It means God actually listens to us.
Now I want to say something to the women we serve at the Julia Greeley Home: We know you are at a difficult time in your life, and we are doing everything we can to give you the time, and the peace, to reflect on your lives and recognize for yourselves what you need to do to regain your self sufficiency. We pray for you every day, and we are proud of what you have already accomplished. But maybe you are still lonely, or you’re sad about being away from family, or you wonder just how you will find a job during a pandemic. These questions frighten many people. But turn to God, offer up your questions and fears, and ask for His help. I promise that He will send you many blessings that you can’t imagine now.
The fact that God is listening to each of us when we ask for His help, should make Lent a time of happiness.