“Lent is the period of 40 days which comes before Easter in the Christian calendar. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, Lent is a season of reflection and preparation before the celebrations of Easter. By observing the 40 days of Lent, Christians replicate Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days. Lent is marked by fasting, both from food and festivities.” Source
Today we started the 40-days of releasing and renewing. We remember that historical Jesus, a man with a message of Love and Kindness above all, went into the desert. He fasted and contemplated on his fate and his work ahead.
Today I imagined Jesus as an everyday guy with fears and hopes. I imagined him in the desert struggling with his conscience. Maybe he wanted to run. Maybe he wanted to live longer. Temptation is just a thought. A though that is driven by fear, any fear, a fear of death or fear of humiliation or else. Jesus did what we all need to do: just sit with the fear until it dissipates. For him fear dissipated in 40 days.
Fasting and withdrawing from the world and sitting with our fears allow us to emerge stronger, without doubts and with a stronger sense of God-self at the end.
After the 40-days of ‘Lent’, Jesus faced prosecution and death with a sense of courage that looked God-like. We can do the same. We can chose to use the 40-days of Lent to face our fears, release and centre ourselves in God’s Love and Care for us.
Though Jesus’ crucifixion seems like a giant failure it is actually a miraculous success of overcoming one’s limited self. He died on the cross which is pretty much a fact. The way he did it, though, is the message. He stayed Loving and Kind till the very end. He epitomized God’s Loving intention even in the mist of war and conflict. (very appropriate in light of Russian-Ukrainian war)
What am I fasting on this Lenten season?
I decide to fast on my doubts. My fear of not being good enough! Daily, as an act of kindness towards myself, I will release all self-doubt and affirm my greatness as an expression of God, the Divine that is inherent in my constitution.