Merriam-Webster Dictionary is "something or someone that gives joy to someone." Jesus is our Joy and our Savior! The season of Lent draws us closer to our Joy through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. It is good and fitting that amid the complexity of human emotion, we hold both sorrow and joy in our hearts all at once--sorrow for what we have done that separates us from our Joy, and gratitude for the mercy and forgiveness that is ours through what Jesus has done for us. As we prepare our hearts for our Joy at Easter with acts of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, may our Joy be visible in us, sharing the hope and promise of our Savior through our countenance, our works, and our witness of all that it good! 

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Lenten Joy?

in Lent

Lent is a Four-Letter Word

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“In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself, in a dark wood, where the direct way was lost.” This very first line of Dante’s magnificent poem, The Divine Comedy, came to me as I reflected on the meaning of Lent. As I remembered the Lents of my life as a child, adolescent, young adult and professed Sister, I could not come up with anything that I liked about Lent. It was always a downer for me. Lent meant giving up an endless list of things so I wouldn’t get turned back to dust and go to hell, and so that God would love me better.

But Dante’s line would not leave my mind. And then I got it: There is hope in the statement because “he came to himself,” an important personal awareness that requires both maturity and inspiration of the Spirit. Coming to oneself is the whole reason we were made—to become who we are. We ask ourselves, “Am I truly the person God made me to be?” What is it that makes me my unique self? In the middle of the journey of our lifenot middle age, but wherever we are in the middle of our life’s journey, the direct way may be lost. We have to take the time to think, reflect and ponder where we are in this middle part of our journey, whether we are 20 or 120. 

So, I offer you a challenge: Make this a very personal Lent using 40 Lent-related 4-letter words for reflection (see below). Take one word a day. Repeat the word with eyes closed, putting the word into your mind, heart and body. Repeat the word adding the word Lent with it. What does the word say to you about yourself? About God? About Lent? Most importantly: What did this word teach you? Then choose the second word and so forth, marking the words that really help you. Let them be lights to shine on your path through the journey of your life. Happy Lenting!

4-Letter Words for 40 Days of Lent

1-Arid  2-Body  3-Dead  4-Deus  5-Dust  6-Fast  7-Fire  8-Gift  9-Give  10-Glad

11-Good  12-Heal  13-Hear  14-Help  15-Holy  16-Hope  17-Jesu  18-Life  19-Long  20-Look

21-Lord  22-Lost  23-Love  24-Mary  25-Move  26-Name  27-Open  28-Pray  29-Read  30-Rest

31-Road  32-Self  33-Sick  34-Soul  35-Stop  36-Time  37-True  38-Turn  39-Walk  40-Well

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