Lenten Reflections

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By Meredith Gebski ’23

I feel like today’s first reading from Lectionary: 229 speaks directly about the Lenten season. “Moses spoke to the people, saying: "This day the LORD, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice. And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments, he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God, as he promised."

This reading also speaks to all of the ways that I struggle with the Lenten season. I have found that Lent in college can be very challenging. Students start talking about what they are giving up and question others about their Lenten plans. I often feel like things start to feel like a competition and like people are micromanaging other’s sacrifices and beliefs. Although Lent is a season of sacrifice and fasting to prepare our hearts for Easter, I think that the basic foundation of our faith can be lost in this season. The Church commands us to “observed these statutes and decrees and to be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.” Although an important message for the believer, we must also be commanded to love, listen, and revive our relationship with the Lord during this time of Lent