Should Lent be Cancelled this Year?

I have heard some suggest the Church should cancel Lent this year as the world has suffered so much in the past year. Because of this year of Covid, we have done our penance, we have sacrificed enough, we have seen much suffering in communities and sadly in our families. Many have said, “Let’s us not so much emphasize the penitential dimension of Lent but let us do something else…”

Just what is that something else? How might we get a handle on it??? Is there something we might consider doing this Lent?

In the Christian tradition, the cross – the sign we put on our heads – has never been only about the suffering of Jesus of Nazareth, or for that matter, the suffering of others. Yes, no question the very practice of putting someone to death via crucifixion is unimaginable suffering. There can be no doubt about that. But the suffering of Jesus on the cross is part of the story. In our faith tradition the cross is a sign of God’s great glory and love for us all, God’s willingness, at all costs, to sacrifice everything for you and me, walking with us in our suffering…The cross engenders in us hope, hope in God who through Jesus loves us through it all. Hope is powerful. Hope is contagious. Hope spreads. Hope, as the poet says, springs eternal. The crosses we wear on our heads today are signs of hope.

The poet laureate, Amanda Gorman, mesmerized the nation at the Inauguration when she asked:

Where can we find light In this never-ending shade?

And then she concluded her stirring poem

The new dawn blooms as we free it for there is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.

To be light, to be hopeful can indeed be an act of bravery: What might it mean for us to be people of hope? To spread hope this Lent in our families, among our friends, in our communities?

Perhaps it means:

• Going beyond our comfort zones to reach out to someone we don’t know in our class or on our floor
• Going beyond our comfort zones to serve people who are different than us – be they the youth, elderly, the homeless, those with disabilities. Or serve the earth by walking more
• Going beyond our comfort zones just to be grateful or to be quiet each day to receive God’s light

Perhaps being a sign of hope means:

• Not being negative, seeking out positive people and limiting toxicity in our lives…
• Letting go of grudges, seeking reconciliation with those we do not talk to
• Or having a conversation with that person in our lives with whom we least talk to…

The word Lent comes from the word for Spring…. Certainly acts of penitence can remind us of our need for God and our desire to deepen our faith, no question; but so too can acts of bravery, of giving and forgiving outside of our comfort zones. As we journey together in Lent as the Iona community, we have the opportunity to be renewed. May the love of God, symbolized in the crosses we will soon bear, give us the courage and bravery to seek such renewal.

Carl Procario-Foley, Ph.D.

Director, Office of Mission and Ministry

Iona College

From his reflection given on Ash Wednesday