A Resurrection Kind of Lent

image: pixabay.com

I don’t know about you, but I find Lent extremely difficult. Each time I attend Mass, I’m reminded that my King and Savior is going to suffer and die. I struggle to keep my penances. I worry that I’m not doing enough in the way of sacrifice, but once I increase those sacrifices, I find myself complaining more than is good for me.

But I’ve learned that I need to adapt a resurrection mindset when Lent rolls around each year. By this, I don’t mean that I ignore the penitential nature of the season, or that I celebrate while the Church fasts. Rather, I look forward in hope to Easter, when I know in faith that my Savior will rise from the dead.

This seems to be the difference between our mother, Mary, and Mary Magdalene. Both stayed faithfully by the foot of the cross as one very close to them died. But Our Lady held on to the hope that her Son would do as He said, that on the third day, He would rise from the dead.

This Lent, along with my ‘prayer, penance, and almsgiving’, I am striving to be a better combination of Mary and Mary Magdalene. I’m attempting to follow Mary Magdalene’s example of being a repentant sinner, seeking the Lord’s mercy, but also becoming more full of Marian hope, even in the face of trials and struggles.

Allow the cross to be a sign of hope for you in these next weeks: a sign that a Resurrection is soon to come.

Image: Jiri Rotreki, 4/23/2010, PD,