What is it about Lent?

< OR What is it about, Lent? For me Lent is hard work, and I don't know if that is because of me or because of Lent. At any rate, it's a period which plays out at a different tempo, a different intensity, from any other part of the church year. For the first time since the fun times of Christmas, the church openly flexes its muscles and tells us to get on with being real about our faith. I think the key phrase which says everything is a little prayer which occurs in the daily office on a Wednesday from time to time: “BEND MY HEART TO YOUR WILL, O GOD” We are being reminded that our will, our wilfulness, doesn't always reach God's standards. Lent is the season when we are going to be told what to do, however much we want to resist. Free advice is flowing like a river bursting its banks. Now is the time when we are encouraged to be more flexible, not so stiff necked, not so locked in our habits of thinking; above all, not looking at the world from behind closed shutters of denial. The excuses we have been making need an overhaul. But we continue to resist the pressure. We know that we have a free choice in everything we do: this is what we have taken as an advantage, that God allows us to break the rules. But Lent brings into question the validity of our behaviour. Yes, we have a choice: “the Lord himself made human beings in the beginning, then left them free to make their own decisions” it says so in the Bible (Ecclesiasticus 15, 14). But God does not approve every choice that we make, and the discipline of Lent is to discern God's will in everything, and try to make it our own. It's tempting to recommend courses of action for others; so hard to put them into practice ourselves. Fasting, prayer, charity, that's the way the litany goes. And it reflects the litany of definitive temptations which the Devil offers to Jesus at the commencement of his ministry: “if you are the Son of God, change these stones into loaves”; “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself off this height and let the angels save you”; and finally, “All this will be yours, if you bow down and adore ME”. What is it about? It's about Ego. What is Lent about? It's about making choices and taking responsibility for their outcomes. Because … “IN YOUR WILL, O GOD, IS OUR PEACE” That's what it's about. … Do not say, 'The Lord was responsible for my sinning,' for he does not do what he hates.  Do not say, 'It was he who led me astray,' for he has no use for a sinner. The Lord hates all that is foul, and no one who fears him will love it either. He himself made human beings in the beginning, and then left them free to make their own decisions. If you choose, you will keep the commandments and so be faithful to his will. He has set fire and water before you; put out your hand to whichever you prefer. A human being has life and death before him; whichever he prefers will be given him. For vast is the wisdom of the Lord; he is almighty and all-seeing. His eyes are on those who fear him, he notes every human action. He never commanded anyone to be godless, he has given no one permission to sin. (Ecclesiasticus 15, 11-20). Blessed be the name of the Lord.