The Holy Season
of Lent2023

The word Lent comes from the Middle English word lente,
meaning “springtime”!  There are tiny signs of spring in
nature in February – birds trying out their spring love songs
on the warmer days, pussy willows becoming supple and soft,
and the beginnings of snowdrop and crocus leaves bravely
peeking out from the ground. It is time to begin to think of
spring-cleaning in our homes.

Perhaps it will be a blessing for us to think of Lent as the springtime of the Soul!  It is when we follow the direction of Jesus and earnestly take up the cross of our Lenten observance that we begin to notice signs of spring in our souls.  Fresh insights and motivation spring up from spending more time with the Word of God like the first blades of green in the patch of snowdrops. Our Lenten sacrifices make us supple and ready to bud forth in works of love and care for others. Our meditations on the sufferings of Jesus for us create love songs for Him in our hearts. The penance services and confessions of Lent are our spiritual forms of spring-cleaning.

All these small beginnings and signs of spring in our souls are preparing us for the great surge of New Life that is the pinnacle of the Church’s year – the glorious feast of the Resurrection of Jesus! So let us take up the practices of Lent with joyful and hopeful hearts, eager for the blossoming to come.