Lent and discomforts

As Lent edges towards us there is a perceptible change in the weather. From a cool and refreshing ambiance interspersed with gentle drizzles under a benign canopy of clouds there now prevails the discomfort of cloudless skies lorded over by a merciless sun.

Discomfort. Unease. Lent always has such menu of sore feelings, not for everyone of course but only for people who know what this season is all about. It's about the passion of Jesus Christ, about the scourge that bit deep into the sacred flesh, about the blood-stained footsteps on the way to the hill of skulls, and finally, about the painful moments before the Son of Man breathed his last.

That passion was humanity's saddest drama, but it was also the happiest. The end result was joy of the unmeasured kind. For what joy there is that transcends salvation?

Lent is therefore about life - life on earth and life in God's realm. Jesus came to teach man how to live that he might have life. But man's hardness of heart made it necessary that that lesson be underpinned with the Divine Son's own sacrifice. Because he was also a man it was a very painful choice. That's why at Gethsemane he prayed: “Abba, all things are possible for you, take this cup away from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want.”

Yet in the end love prevailed and the sacrifice was consummated. The beneficiary? We the sons and daughters of God. Without that sacrifice we would have continued to blunder along with an unforgiven sin. The mercy of our Heavenly Father would have been beyond our reach. And heaven would have been denied to most of us.

Lent is therefore a celebration of salvation. And since salvation cannot be merited without suffering, it is also a celebration of suffering. But why celebrate something painful? Why make a mountain of negative experiences? Is not life something to make the most of and enjoy? Since life is a gift of God is it not an insult to the Giver if one doesn't accept the gift and be happy about it?

This indeed is a tempting point of view. Very many have fallen victims to its appeal. Even Christians have. That's why Christianity has been fragmented into many factions because many prefer to forget the sufferings of Christ and desire to savor a life sans hardships.

Against this trend, Jesus says: “Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many go that way”. And to his disciples Jesus did not promise a life of flowers and sunshine but one of trials and persecutions. “Everyone will hate you because of me. . .” and “You will be brought to trial before rulers and kings because of me. . .”

To follow Christ means therefore to take the narrow road, a bumpy one full of sharp stones and brambles. Yet this is not enough because along the way evil men wait to inflict more sufferings and destruction. This happened to martyr saints. This happened to our very own San Pedro Calungsod. The spear that struck him down was like the one driven into the divine flesh from out of which the Lord's redemptive blood flowed.

Martyrdom, however, of the Calungsod kind is not expected of most Christians like us. Nor a life of perpetual anxiety, fears, and pain. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid”. This is from the One who was hanged on the cross, the very One whose passion we celebrate at Lent.

With his death and resurrection Jesus gives us life and teaches us to live a full life, free from fear and anxiety.  Is such a life reachable? In the modern world which has made secularism its mantra can a Christian break free from this fetter and be saved?