The Lenten Invitation
“Yet even now”, says the Lord, “repent sincerely and return to me With fasting, and weeping, mourning rend your hearts and not your garments” (Joel 2: 12- 13). As these words of the sacred Scripture reverberated once again in various parts of the world on February 17, this year, Christians were ushered into the 2010 season of Lent. Lent is a period of fasting, penitence and self-denial traditionally observed by Christians in preparation for the celebration of Christ's death and resurrection on Good Friday and Easter Sunday respectively. Lent is a time of soul-searching and repentance. It consists of the forty days before Easter Sunday, not counting Sundays. The date of Lent varies annually according to the date of Easter. In the Church of the West Lent starts on Ash Wednesday. Thus it may well begin as early as February 4, or as late as March 10.

As has become the tradition, on every Ash Wednesday, Christians have sacred ashes applied to their foreheads. As the Minister performs this ritual, he recites:” Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return”. This custom probably introduced by Pope Gregory I, has been universal since the synod of Benevento (1091). Then from that day onwards, for next forty days, the Church radically invites all her children to embrace this more intense period of spiritual training. In every season of Lent, the liturgy sets before us three penitential practices, notably- prayer, fasting and Almsgiving. With these three practices, the Lenten season becomes a deeply spirit filled period. The Church invites us to a sincere review of our life in the light of the teachings of the Gospel. In his Lenten message for 2010, Pope Benedict XVI, offered some reflections on the theme of justice, beginning from the Pauline affirmation: “The justice of God has been manifested through faith in Jesus Christ” (cf. Rm. 3, 21-22). The Holy Father considered the meaning of the term “justice,” which in common usage implies “to render to every man his due”.

Making out a case for the poor and needy, he said that “God is attentive to the cry of the poor and in return asks to be listened to: He asks for justice towards the poor (cf. Sir 4, 4-5, 8-9), the stranger (cf. Ex 22, 20), the slave (cf. Deut. 15, 12-18). In order to enter into justice, it is thus necessary to leave that illusion of self-sufficiency, the profound state of closure, which is the very origin of injustice. In other words, what is needed is an even deeper “exodus” than that accomplished by God with Moses, a liberation of the heart, which the Law on its own is powerless to realize. He enjoined all to enter into the “greatest” justice, which is that of love (cf. Rm 13, 8-10), the justice that recognizes itself in every case more a debtor than a creditor, because it has received more than could ever have been expected. Strengthened by this very experience, the Christian is moved to contribute to creating just societies, where all receive what is necessary to live according to the dignity proper to the human person.

The situation in the present day Nigerian society, demands more than ever, a living out of this message of Lent. In Nigerian today, the media air wave has been awash with a lot of hues and cries on the prevalence of political, economic and other forms of social injustice. There has been an ever increasing gap between the rich and the poor. Majority of the people in government do not listen to the cries of the poor masses they govern. We can barely see leaders who are at the service of the people they govern. The disabled are degraded, while people of different ethnic are treated based on that line. According to the United Nations prescription of one policeman to four hundred citizens, it can be conclude that Nigeria is literally under policed. Not withstanding this, the government tolerates a situation where one hundred thousand policemen are detailed to guard the highly placed people, leaving the average citizens with little or no security. Little wonder the International Monetary Fund once reported that 85% of Nigeria’s resources are consumed by1% of our population, while the other 99% are left to share the remaining 15%. This despicable situation demands a radical change.

In this season of lent, we are all invited to rediscover the value and supremacy of the spiritual over the material. All should see lent as a “springtime”, a time for rebirth and renewal. This great invitation if embraced wholeheartedly will go a long way to enhance our spiritual growth. Have a fruitful Lenten season.