Catholic Devotions!

Lent

Lent is the 40 days of penitence and preparation before Easter commemorating Jesus, who spent 40 days and nights fasting in the desert, enduring temptation from Satan. During the season of Lent, we give up things we enjoy, such as a favorite food or an activity that we sometimes worship instead of God, and fasting and abstaining from meat on Fridays. This is a lot more difficult than it sounds. We as Christians can look to Jesus and draw strength from our Lord and Savior as we struggle with temptations to do what we gave up, as our Lord resisted temptations from the devil, too. The devil was kind of like Schwartz in a Christmas Story egging Flick to stick his tongue on the poll. But unlike Flick, who gave in after a triple dog dare, Jesus stood firm in His Father's will and told the devil to get lost.

Sometimes it would be nice if we could do the same, but since we aren't both human and divine, most of us can slip up within the first few days, if not on the first. And that's okay. What's important is we pick ourselves up and we keep going. Peter denied Jesus three times, but he picked himself up, repented, and kept going, becoming one of the first leaders of the early Church. Edmund Pevensie betrayed everyone to the White Witch, but he realized the mistake he'd made, repented, and kept going to fight in the battle with his brother and sisters. Alfred Pennyworth, butler to Batman, once said that "Why do we fall, sir? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up."

God doesn't want us to dwell on our mistakes and slip-ups this Lent. He wants us to repent and try again harder the next day, resisting the temptation to stick our tongues on the flagpole.

Lent is more than some 40-day challenge; it is a time of spiritual preparation and growth. We take this time to die to ourselves, born again in Christ on Easter through the Resurrection.