I recently read in “The Black Book” (It’s a book that was
distributed in my church and it includes some form of preparation for each day
in lent) a question which went,
“What is lent about?”
Option a: Fasting and Abstinence
Option b: Baptism
Option c: The passion of Christ
I was shocked to read the answer as Option b: Baptism.
Aren’t options a and c more relevant? But coming to a consensus, I realized
that option b is most suitable because during Easter we renew our Baptismal
Vows. But then came upon me the realization that Baptism is the sacrament of
initiation, that means we are just getting started. We are preparing for a life
in Christ.
Which means reading “The Black Book” daily is not gonna end
with Lent, its gonna continue as reading “The Bible” for the rest ov oour
laivesss. This is gonna be so tiring.
In fact I’m already tired, that I almost gave up
‘unabstaining’ from what I had tried to abstain from during this lent. But then
the day came that I was sad about this and I was in church.
I was early to church as the bus service on that day (during
Spring Break) required that I either come 35 minutes early to church for mass
or go 20 minutes late. Having arrived early, I was asked to carry the cross in
procession at the beginning of that mass. I was super excited about
participating in the liturgy in this new Church. The last time I had a chance
to do this was few months ago where I took the offertory up to the priest. I
get excited about such things J
T minus 2 minutes and I was standing next to the priest with a heavy wooden cross in hand that supposedly costs 14000$ and I dare not drop it, ready to walk in procession. But then I wanted a photo of me carrying the cross and I expressed the same to Father R who was right next to me. He who is the kindest of people looked around to see if anyone had a camera. I suggested we use my phone camera in my pocket.
T minus 1 minute and Father R was holding the cross from my
hand and I took out the phone and handed it over to another kind soul and I
took back the cross and the photo was taken.
T minus 0 minutes and the procession went on smoothly led by the girl firmly carrying the cross upto the alter and the mass began. And her prayer was,
“Lord
help me carry the cross
Tonight
and always.”
Well it was a fun experience carrying the cross, so even if
lent is only a preparation to carry the cross the rest of our lives, I’m sure
God will make a way and make it an exciting way. Now I am all motivated :) God knows how to keep me going... I feel Rejuvenated to make this lent a fruitful one !
