by Christiana Gokyo, Jos
“Lent is a journey that involves our whole life, our entire being. It is a time to reconsider the path we are taking, to find the route that leads us home and to rediscover our profound relationship with God, on whom everything depends.
“Lent is not just about the little sacrifices we make, but about discerning where our hearts are directed. This is the foundation of Lent: asking where our hearts are directed. Let us ask: Where is my life’s navigation system taking me – is it towards God or towards myself? Do I live to please the Lord, or to be noticed, praised?
“ASH WEDNESDAY: ‘Now is favorable time,’ says the Lord; ‘Return to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping and mourning.’
“Christians all over the world, especially Catholics, begin the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the Holy season of Lent, the time that God himself invites them – his sinful children – to come with their sins so that He can forgive them.”
The Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Jos, His Grace Most Revd Dr Matthew Ishaya Audu, made these narrations, while adding that, “Lent is a special season, which begins with Ash Wednesday, and lasts for 40 days, excluding Sundays.”
He was speaking with our correspondent in his Message to Christians as they begin the Lenten Season in Jos.
According to him, “The period of 40 days is very significant to us, Christians, as it reflects the 40 days of Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24: 18); 40 days of Elijah on Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8); 40 days of Flood in the days of Noah (Genesis 7:4); 40 years of Israel’s journey to the Promised Land; 40 days’ ultimatum for repentance given to the people of Nineveh by Jonah (Jonah 3:4) and 40 days of Jesus’ fasting (Mark 1:12-13, Matthew 4:1-3, Luke 4:1-4).”
He said, “The season of Lent is also called Season of Grace because it offers an opportunity to purify the heart, renew the spirit and regain the grace of God in the journey of life.
“Since we are even more open to receive the grace of God during this season of Lent, St. Paul advises us to make the best use of the grace and not to receive it in vain (1 Corinthians 6: 1 ),” he stated.
The Archbishop further explained with an exclamation, “Why Ash Wednesday?” “In the Old Testament times, people used ashes in variety of religious ways. For instance, in the 2nd Book of Samuel 13:19, we read about a woman who had been raped.
“She sprinkled ashes on her head as a sign of grief. Also, the Book of Jeremiah 6:26 tells us how people of old rolled in ashes as a sign of mourning; and the Book of Job 42:6 mentions the custom of sprinkling ashes on oneself as a sign of repentance, while in the Book of Daniel, we read, “Turn to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer with fasting, sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:3).
“If the miracles, which were performed in you, had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have long ago put on sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on themselves, to show that they had turned from their sins,” he stated.
“This brings us to the use of ashes in our own time. Each year on Ash Wednesday, we allow ourselves to be marked with ashes on our foreheads; this is done for two major reasons: repentance and reminder that we are mortal beings.”
He said, “These two major reasons of Ash is first, ashes are a sign of repentance; they indicate that we are sorry for our sins and we are prepared to do penance for them during the Lenten season.
“This explains the formula why the priest may say “Turn away from your sins and be faithful to the Gospel” as he marks us with the ashes on our foreheads. If you do not accept that you are a sinner and you are ready to do penance during the Lenten period, then there is no need for you to allow yourself to be marked with ashes,” he explained.
According to him, “This is because it will be an empty ritual and accompanied with no grace of God. Ashes are for only those who accept they are sinners and are ready to do penance so that they will receive God’s forgiveness.
“Secondly,” he noted that, ‘the ashes on our head also remind us that we are dust and to dust we will return; and yet, upon this dust of ours, God blew his Spirit of life. So, we should no longer live our lives chasing dust, chasing things that are here today and gone tomorrow.
“Let us return to the Spirit, the Giver of Life; let us return to the Fire that resurrects our ashes, to the Fire who teaches us to love, and we will always be dust, but, as a liturgical hymn says, ‘dust in love.’
“Let us pray once more to the Holy Spirit and rediscover the fire of praise, which consumes the ashes of lamentation and resignation. Thirdly, the ashes are a sign of our mortality; they indicate to us that we will die someday, sometimes,” he stated.
The Archbishop recalled thus: “Right after Adam and Eve sinned, God said to them: ‘Because of what you have done ….. You will go back to the soil from which you were formed. Dust you are and dust you shall return.’ This is what most priests prefer to use.
‘Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return.’ “This brings us to what we do as our sign of repentance, and we are prepared to do penance at this time of lent so that God will forgive us.
“Also, during this period, there is the need for alms giving, prayer and fasting. The first invitation of Jesus is that, we should consider giving something to the poor during lent as sign of our repentance and accepting God’s forgiveness; we need to take care of those, who are less-privileged in our midst.
“In those days, some families during lent practiced what we call, ‘Lenten bowl.’ They did this by putting a bowl in their centre dinner table. During lent, they cut back on their meal budgets and put money in the centre dinner table, and after lent, they give the money to support the poor of poor.
“So, as you begin this Lenten Season, ask yourselves how are you going to respond to this request by Jesus? What plan are you going to put in place to take care of the poor?”
According to him, “Jesus invites us in the Gospel to consider being more prayerful during lent. This he said, explains the practice where during lent we have Stations of the Cross every Wednesday and Fridays in this country, Nigeria, and we are expected to attend the daily masses more often, visitation to Blessed Sacrament regularly, praying the Rosary every day (the four mysteries of the rosary: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Mystery of Light) and other personal and family prayers.
Archbishop Audu disclosed that, “Fasting from food and material pleasure is one of the useful spiritual exercises of Lent. Fasting from food is not easy, and that is why people generally look miserable when they are fasting.
“We fast to show we love God more than food that we eat, and the way we show it is by fasting. Fasting is not limited to food alone, but fasting from sin and some bad habits can even be more challenging.
“While more often than not, we find it easier to fast for the sake of dieting than fasting for spiritual growth. In other words, fasting is about detaching ourselves from some worldly pleasures, activities and exercises, in order to focus more on our relationship with God and on charitable deeds,” the Archbishop stated.