Today, I woke up thinking of lent, the memory came to me of the proper practice of this time: fasting, prayer, charity, etc. Asking the Lord for strength, serenity and disposition to live well this beautiful time. A little of the past came to my mind , I remembered my Lent from long ago, the things of children, the experiences in the warmth of the family and of the simple house.

I remember that I was living this time with enthusiasm and joy, for our Easter was marked by many encounters: we were going inside the house of our parents, in the warmth of the other place, of games and I did not forget the recommendations: “I cannot say that this boy is fasting.”

I lived lent in the serenity and in the levity of childhood. Today already I am a priest and observing my theoretical knowledge of the practice of lent, I ask the Lord for the serenity and the disposition of childhood in order to practice it and live it well, as preparation to encounter someone that I love. Thus, I know that this time will not be heavier for my existence, or an anguish for my conscience, but time to look for strength of preparing oneself a new. Thus acquiring the conscience that lent is a time to deepen and to renew the impulse in life; a time of seeking to seek greater things in the great experience of being Christian.

In this time, we should begin to feel the force of the Paschal victory, even in preparation, having the emotion of conqueror even on the road of victory. For only they that have courage of walking will be able to tell through experience how it is to arrive. We live this lent as someone that wants to conquer, that should not be enslaved by contrary forces, through lack of love, through hatred and sin; we use the practices of this time preparing us to do the experience of the encounter with the Lord of Easter, Jesus Christ: He that makes all things new.”

Note that it is not worth suffering with the hurt instead of forgiving, for as the song says: “o ódio vai matando quem sente” [Hatred goes killing those who feel it]. The ashes of this lent may be for us ashes of resurrection that remove from the heart the marks of separation from God and from our brother/sister. We make the experience of good from a smile, a look, an act, company, etc. For we have learned with our dear Archbishop Alberto that “life becomes more beautiful when it becomes a gift for others.”

Lent hopes for the Greater Good, itinerary of love, a road that brings us to the other side, where the Father inspires us. It is a road that the Church presents to us in 40 days, to Easter. It is preparing us because Christ needs and wants us to be in Him. Lent wants to teach us to be one only with Love and to conquer the vices of an irregular life. New life seeks in us His feeling and shows it to us.

PE GERALDINHO

Translated from Portuguese