The Cycle of Life/Season of Lent (Spring) is a 40 day observance (not counting Sundays) leading up to Resurrection Sunday. It is marked by fasting, prayer, and self-denial, so that a more intentional focus may be given to the person and work of Jesus Christ and to personal Christian growth. Lent is a season set apart for the purpose of identifying with Christ’s suffering and a renewing of personal faith in His finished work on the cross as well as a time of renewing personal devotion to Him. The Five Spiritual Disciplines of Fasting, Solitude, Quietude, Abstinence (Chastity) and Frugality are traditionally observed along with the practicing of such disciplines as self-scrutiny (identification and confession of sins in specific terms “in their worst possible light”); prayer (in particular, the prayer of examen in which one asks the Holy Spirit to reveal and expose one’s innermost thoughts, judgments and sinful desires), and repentance.

These disciplines are practiced during the 40 days of Lent, in order to rid the Christian Pilgrim of all outside distraction, gratification of bodily appetites, and egotisms, so that he or she moves from self-centeredness, to devotion to and love of God in Christ.

The name of this season, “Lent”, comes from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “Spring” and refers to the lengthening of days that occurred with the approach of the vernal equinox. Lent evolved out of the early church’s development of a preparation period for those who were candidates for baptism. During this period, intensive discipleship took place called Christian Catechism. This period of training was concluded Resurrection Sunday morning when the candidates were baptized into the Christian faith. Lent, or the “Lenten pilgrimage” as it is sometimes called, served to deepen the experience of the early Christian community as new converts were discipled and baptized, and the significant events in the life of Jesus Christ (his death and resurrection) were celebrated.

One of the reasons the season of Lent is intentionally so long is so that one’s efforts at keeping it will require both an ordered rule of life and rational self-control, rather than relying on emotional devotions or impulsivity, as one struggles to meet the demands of the prolonged disciplines. This searching examination of one’s life has been called “prayerful ‘in-reach” and “keeping one’s nostrils attuned to one’s inner cesspool” by CS Lewis. Lent is not just a season for giving up something, but also taking up something: the cross of Christ, or the entering into the fellowship of His sufferings. It is a time when we draw closer to his humiliation and loving sacrifice, beginning with his temptation in the wilderness (or desert) for forty days. In fact, the imagery of “the way of the desert” is one of the classical descriptions of the Lenten pilgrimage – taken from the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through it we will deepen our participation and identification with Christ by practicing the Christian disciplines associated with the “white martyrdom” as an act of worship and spiritual growth.

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12:24-25

“Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” 1 John 2:6