Thoughts for the Lent

The Lenten season for the year 2023 starts on Ash Wednesday, February 22nd, and ends on either Maundy Thursday, April 6, or carries on to the Easter Sunday in some traditions. The Mar Thoma Church and Orthodox Church traditions have 50 days of Lent. Palm Sunday is the last Sunday of the Lent, 2nd April in 2023.

Lent has a great biblical precedent, “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness He fasted forty days and forty nights” (Mt 4:1-2). We also think of the forty years that the people of Israel wandered in the desert on their way to the Promised Land. The path for our own meditation lies in the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness before he undertook His public ministry. Satan was recommending shortcuts for success, but Jesus chose the long and narrow road to Golgotha and to His cross.

A time of discipline and preparation is important before any important event or decision in life. Prayer, fasting, and abstinence are the three tools available as we prepare to celebrate the great mystery of the Easter, the passion, the death, and the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Lent enables us to step back from the usual habits, routines, distractions and give particular attention to God. An outward restraint can be a sign and symbol of an inner attention, and a help towards it. This is the meaning of ashes given on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. This is also the basis of fasting and praying, which lies at the heart of Lent (Mt 6:16-18). Reminding ourselves to give time to God so that God may speak to us in the silence of our heart. Psalmist says: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps 46:10). Let us also pray with the tax collector of the Lukes’ Gospel: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Lk18:13). May the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart be pleasing in the sight of Lord Jesus, our rock, and our redeemer (Ps 19.14). May the forthcoming Easter be a blessed time for all of us. We very much hope that you will use this time to think of the question, "What does God require of you?"(Micah 6:8).

For the Editorial Board