A Time To Strengthen Our Faith To God

Foster Spiritual Growth During Lent

Early morning rain seeps into thirsty earth, releasing a pleasant aroma that is present only in this season. It is a lovely time of the year. After a long string of dreary, wintry days, it’s a pleasure to look out on your window again to witness days full of meaningful time to pray. Lent or kwaresma in Filipino is the season wherein Filipino people recall Christ's passion, his suffering, death and resurrection. It is during this time that Filipino religiosity is at its high as depicted in various traditions.

Lent is a time for Christians of all denominations to ask themselves and reflect on which actions they did during the previous year were in line with Christ’s and which ones were not. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. On this day, you will see Catholic Filipinos returning from church with ash smudged on their foreheads in the shape of a cross. They said that the ashes symbolize their grief for the things they’ve done wrong and the resulting division of being imperfect to God. Holy Week is the final week of Lent, beginning with Passion/Palm Sunday and concluding with Holy Saturday. It is during these days that the readings focus primarily on the last days and suffering and death of Jesus.

Consequently, the three main things people focus on during Lent are praying, fasting which is abstaining from something to reduce distraction, and giving or charity. For Catholics and other religions, prayers during Lent were really importance because prayers focuses their need on for God’s forgiveness. It’s also a call of repentance and receiving God’s mercy and love. Fasting is a commitment to spend time with God. It’s a means of seeking God’s guidance and evaluating your own life in light.

In essence to all, my family and I may not be joining in celebrating Lent season, but I still give my full respect for those who were commemorating this special occasion. Even if we have different religious beliefs, we should be always remember to do good things in life and we must acknowledge and disclose our sins to God and ask for His forgiveness.

 

Multimedia Reference:

https://newphilly.org/seasonoflent2020/

https://news.americanbible.org/blog/entry/corporate-blog/lent-a-season-for-biblical-meditation