Saying, "Welcome to Lent," is like saying, "Welcome to your root canal," or as in my wife's case, "Welcome to your appendectomy." No one likes surgery, it's never fun. However, the ancient scriptures tell us there is a time for everything. Lent is the time for tearing up, throwing away, killing, mourning, silence.
Like surgery, though not fun, Lent is where we can experience healing by removing the things that are injuring us. We cut ourselves off from the vices that control us, we express remorse for letting something other than our loving God lead us, and we take time to silently reflect upon how God is leading us into freedom.
There is pain in cutting these things off, in drilling out the rot, but in the end there is also relief and wonderful freedom.
So, welcome to Lent!
"And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." - St. Paul's Letter to the Church in Rome
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