Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless, of course, you fail the test. 2 Corinthians 13:5
As a child, I dreaded Lent. To me it was a gloomy and somber period of trivial self-denial. I know now that Lent is so much more, so potentially enriching.
The Church is asking us to use Lent as a spiritual mirror. To use it to look at ourselves and our lives, and to ask if we really reflect Jesus. Are we genuine Christians? Do we share with others what we have received from Christ and from the Church, the Bible and the sacraments? Do we try to be helpful when opportunities present themselves, or are we selfish, looking only for our own consolation? Do we look inward and try to evaluate honestly our priorities?
Lent can be so valuable to us. It is a perfect time to take that spiritual mirror and hold it at all angles, to the right and to the left, up and down, to see who we really are and where we are going. If we don’t like what we see, we have six weeks to do something about it!
Pat Adams
Originally published February 16, 1988
