Your Favorite Season

When I was a young priest I recall a parishioner telling me that Lent was her favorite liturgical season. What?! Her favorite liturgical season? How is that possible? Lent is full of sacrifices, sufferings, and difficulty. Even the time of year is challenging with winter dragging on and the cold weather seeming to refuse to give in to the coming of spring. How is Lent your favorite season I would ask.

How she responded amazed me and has stuck with me to this day. Lent is her favorite liturgical season because it directly addresses what’s wrong in the world and what’s wrong in each of our lives. The world is willing to acknowledge some dysfunctions and wrongs, but only to a point. The world is still enamored with many, many sins and refuses to call some sins evil, but instead exalts many sins calling them goods. For Christians, however, we’re more open to correction because Jesus offers us not condemnation but conversion. Lent is the time for that conversion – leading to new life in Christ at Easter.

This Lent take seriously the call to conversion, to turn from sin and be faithful to the gospel. Lent will be a success for us only if we are turning from our sin with the grace and power of God. Confession is that place where we actively live a moment of repentance and conversion with God’s help. Come to confession. Come receive the mercy of Jesus!