By Eric Snyder
As Lent winds down, I find myself wondering whether it happened at all or not. Lent is supposed to be a time in preparation for the holiest of Catholic holidays. The past couple of Lents, though, have been far less ‘holy’ or focused spiritually for me than I feel like they should be.
I wonder if this is part of adjusting to life as an adult Catholic. In high school (and even more so in grade school), I was in an environment that was, more or less, Catholic. In college, there is definitely a solid Catholic community, but it’s far less comprehensive than in the past.
As a result, I feel like I need to make more of an effort to really make Lent happen for me spiritually. There are no days off, fewer opportunities to relax and reflect, etc; but it is still Jesus’ death and resurrection that we are celebrating, and should therefore be as special.
When I transition into what is a more ‘adult’ life over the coming years, I’m hoping that I can improve the effort that I put into Lent. My surroundings aren’t likely to get any more Catholic, so it’s really going to be necessary for me to recognize the importance of Lent from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday.
Does anybody else feel this way? How have your Lents been spiritually in college?
March 22, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Thanks for posting on this topic Eric, because this may be something that everyone feels yet no one mentions. As with most things in this world, growing older seems to be a double-edged sword. We gain in knowledge, experience, and respect, yet we lose our child-like sense of wonder and, for many, our innocence.
Last weekend, I had the priviledge of seeing my cousin play Veronica in a living stations of the Cross at St. Williams parish in northeast Philadelphia. My cousin is in eighth grade, and the whole class performed for their families and the rest of the archdiocese. I was astonished and ultimately impressed with their reverence and their ability to truly convey the wonder of Christ’s Passion journey! I wasn’t expecting much, and I felt terribly assuming after I witnessed what they were capable of.
It seems Christ hit it on the head (as usual) when he said we must “be converted and become like children”. (Matthew 18: 3 [NAB]) I felt like a child, watching my cousin and her class act out the saving act of Christ; their child-like wonder truly infected me and gave me a renewed love for Christ and the season that He has given to us through His Church! No doubt, being child-like takes a lot of work, because it calls us to be different from what society wishes for us to be. I think in a practical way, this calls us to have hope in God ALWAYS! Children have a hope that is often misconstrued to be naivete. We are called to have that, for Christ says “with people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19: 26 [NAB]) After all, on Good Friday we did just kiss the Cross. What kind of radical hope does that display?! Just amazing.
Thanks Eric, and I wish everyone a prayerful, holy, and child-like Easter.