Reflections on Lent

On the liturgical calendar Lent is the 40-day period (not including Sundays) from Ash Wednesday to the Saturday before Easter, known as Resurrection Sunday. Today, there are several non-Roman Catholic groups that also celebrate Lent. The word “Lent” comes from an old English word for “spring,” referring to the spring season.

In areas that are populated by Roman Catholics, you may have seen individuals with a smudged black cross on their foreheads in the spring. It is a part of the Lenten season. The bearer of the smudged black cross is in a time of personal reflection, heart-searching and self-denial, such as refraining from certain foods and activities that are normally enjoyed.

Those who are involved in Lenten activities find that what they do is rooted in the Bible. Moses (Ex. 34:28), Elijah (1 Kings 19:8-9) and Jesus (Matt. 4:1-2) went through periods of 40 days of self-denial which prepared them for the next challenge they had to face.

Catholic Answers, an organization that “explains and defends the faith,” lists the top questions about Lent. I won’t mention all, but here is a sample. “Can you eat chicken or beef broth on Fridays during Lent?” “What should I do when meat is being served on a Friday during Lent?” “Is it a mortal sin to forget to follow your Lenten promise/sacrifice?”

I don’t want to appear to be mocking anyone’s sincerely held beliefs, but is this what it means to follow Jesus? Is this biblical Christianity? Where is the response of the heart in all of this? Jesus said, “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Mark 7:6).

Repentance vs. Penance

These two words are not synonymous. One of the sources of the confusion can be traced to Jerome’s translation of the Latin Vulgate, of Matthew 3:2 and 4:17. In the former, John the Baptist says, “Do penance for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In the latter passage, as translated from the Vulgate, we read, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The original-language word in the New Testament for those scriptures has a root that means “repent.” “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The basic meaning of repent refers to a change of mind. On the other hand, the basic meaning of penance has the idea of doing something as punishment for your wrongs.

Lent – The Time to Visit the Confessional

When I was a practicing Roman Catholic many years ago, Lent was the time when the confessionals were literally mobbed by people who felt they had better get straightened out with God.

I, too, would go to the confessional—actually I went every Saturday afternoon all through the year—so I could receive the Eucharist the next day. I would seek to confess my many sins—some small and some larger. The priest, who was not really visible, would offer some words of admonition which, depending on the individual priest, could be rather frightening and then say, “As your penance say five Hail Marys and ten Our Fathers,” referring to the prayers I had to recite with the help of a rosary, a prayer bead, used in several different religions, to help the worshipper to keep count.

I have to humbly and respectfully ask, and desire not to sound sarcastic or mean-spirited, but is this what is really pleasing to the God of the universe? I was a miserable, unhappy sinner, and certainly knew most clearly, that I deserved the unmitigated wrath of God. I never felt forgiven and I never heard the Gospel under those circumstances.

When I was a kid of Italian immigrant parents, living in New York City, the Mafia was at work. Mr. Russo frequently came to collect “protection money”—huge crushing amounts that hard-working immigrants could never raise. He, like all other gangsters, crooked politicians and government officials, kings and leaders who rule over millions of people today worldwide, and in our own country, were and are evil people living as the servants of the devil. And yet, Mr.  Russo could faithfully go to the confessional, “do penance,” and come out completely absolved. In the end, God will not be mocked. “Be sure your sins will find you out” (Num. 32:23).

The confusion, and resultant disgrace, is what happens when a religious organization takes upon itself the prerogative to add to the Word of God. The popes, prelates and bishops, “doctors of the church,” condemned Luther, but his reply was from Scripture: “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Rom. 8:34).

Grace—Unmerited Favor—Is Still a Scandal

Church history has been marked by those who claim some special insight from heaven that allegedly proves the necessity of adding baptism, church membership, a specially appointed clergy, saying the right words in the right way, as the approved way of being loved by God and invited into His kingdom. The additions are beyond number.

Some are quite ludicrous and sound like, “We should not have a piano in the church because Moses found it hard to drag one through the desert sand.” Others are theological, academic and argued forcefully by those who insist everyone else has missed the truth.

Yet, God’s Word still stands: “For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8-9).