Sometimes we can feel alone during Lent, especially if we chose a sacrifice for the next 40 days that no one else picked. In fact, often this feeling of isolation can lead to giving up our Lenten sacrifice, embracing our former way of life instead.
A central key to remaining faithful during Lent is to let Jesus be with us every step of the way.
Dom Prosper Gueranger meditates on this idea in his Liturgical Year, using the image of Jesus in the storm at sea that is featured in the gospels.
The ship, the Church, has set sail. The voyage is to last forty days. The disciples labor in rowing, for the wind is against them; they begin to fear lest they may not be able to gain the port. But Jesus comes to them on the sea. He goes up to them in the ship; the rest of the voyage is most prosperous … our cowardice would sink under these forty days unless we had Jesus with us. Let us not fear, it is He! He prays with us, fasts with us, and does all our works of mercy with us. Was it not He that first began these forty days of expiation? Let us keep our eyes fixed on Him and be of good heart.
We don’t have to embark on our journey of Lent alone. Jesus is there, waiting to be invited into our lives and to experience all of our joys and sufferings of this voyage.
Gueranger continues and explains that if we grow tired during Lent, we should look towards Jesus again, especially in the Eucharist.
If we grow tired, let us go to Him, as did the poor sick ones of whom our Gospel speaks. The very touch of His garments sufficed to restore health to such as had lost it; let us go to Him in His adorable Sacrament and the divine life whose germ is already within us will develop itself, and the energy which was beginning to droop in our hearts will regain all its vigor.
Above all, don’t isolate yourself from Jesus during Lent, but stay close to him every step of the way.
And today we celebrate...