Lent
Lenten Message from the Archbishop
2021 Lenten Message Of The Archbishop Of Kampala His Grace Dr. Cyprian Kizito Lwanga
Dear brothers and sisters
"I shall arise and return to my Father” (Luke. 15:18)
As we begin this year’s Lenten Season, we are called upon once more to look into our lives and see the areas of our lives where the Light of Christ is not shining. The season of Lent is a period of deep reflection. It is a period of profound introspection and soul searching. Having gone further and further from the God whose love for us remains constant even when we sin, it is a period to ‘come back to our senses’ like the prodigal son (Cf. Lk. 15:17). This process of rediscovering that waywardness only leads to slavery and unhappiness is undertaken using the means that the Church has placed at our disposal in this season, namely, Prayer, Almsgiving and Fasting.
Prayer
Prayer is the bedrock of our Christian faith. It is the life-giving font that sustains us and maintains our relationship with God. As St. Faustina says, “A soul arms itself by prayer for all kinds of combat…a soul which is pure and beautiful must pray, or else it will lose its beauty….a sinful soul, plunged in sins must pray, so that it might rise again. There is no soul which is not bound to pray, for every single grace comes to the soul through prayer” (D. 14.6). In this Season of Lent, let us double our efforts and pray to the Lord even more fervently. Let us re-commit, and kindle our relationship with God at a personal level. Let us humble ourselves before our Maker, admit our wrongs, ask for forgiveness and commit to a path of righteousness. The Lord is always ready to give ear to our prayers, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My Face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). God has all the answers to the challenges we go through. He has the ultimate final say in everything. Let this Lenten Season be a period for us to open our eyes to this reality and re-awaken our devotion to the Lord who loves us so much.
Fasting
From of old, the physical act of fasting has been used by those who seek to express contrition before their God as a way of signifying their spiritual brokenness before the God against whose commandments they have transgressed (Ex. 34:28; Ps. 69:10; Dn. 9:3-5). Fasting has also at times accompanied prayer as a way of expressing total surrender to God while waiting on His will to be done (cf. Acts. 13:3-4). In this Lenten Season we are called upon to engage in this act of fasting as a way of showing surrender to Our Lord and penitence for our sins. Our fasting is a way of mourning our sins. It is a way of responding to the Lord who calls out to us, “Even now, return to me with your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning” (Joel. 2:12). Our fasting should elicit from us those interior tears of penitence. “We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23; cf. also. Is. 53:6). Like St. Peter, we have denied Christ by transgressing our Christian commitments in numerous ways. And yet the gaze of Christ does not leave us. As our sinful eyes meet the loving gaze of Christ, like Peter, we should be able to weep those tears of penitence for having betrayed our Christian commitments out of cowardice or even for the sake of convenience. Fasting is the physical practice which gives us the inner and spiritual quietness to ponder our transgressions and mourn over them so as to obtain forgiveness from the Lord.
Almsgiving
The scandal of selfishness and individualism pervades the world today. The spirit of selfishness is something that the evil one plants in our hearts to make us forget that good spirit of selflessness that should characterize our lives as Christian. Almsgiving is not something that we should merely engage in to obtain psychological comfort and feel good about ourselves. It something that should be a product of love – of Christian love. It should be a product of the spirit of selflessness which Christ exemplifies in a profound and singularly perfect way, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn. 15:13). In this Season of Lent, like Christ, in a spirit of charity, we should be ready to lay down all that we have for the benefit of others. We need to go out of ourselves and become more sensitive to the needs of others. As Pope Francis said in his Lenten Message 2020, we need to develop a commitment to building a better world, especially for the vulnerable and victims of violence and oppression.
The Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph
As we begin the season of Lent, let us not forget to turn to the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is our Mother! Let us always call upon her to intercede for us, as we strive to imitate her virtues, especially faithfulness, humility, obedience and patience. She is a model of true faith in God (Cf. Lk. 1:45). As believers, let us look up to her and pray for her intercession as we undertake our Lenten observance.
This Lent finds us in the Year of St. Joseph which the Holy Father Pope Francis declared on 8th December 2020, in his Apostolic Letter, Patris Corde (With a Father’s Heart). Looking at the obedience of St. Joseph (Matthew 1:20-24; 2:13-15), let us recapture the spirit of obedience to the commandments of God throughout this Lenten Season. As the Holy Father Pope Francis states, “In every situation, Joseph declared his own “fiat”, like those of Mary at the Annunciation and Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane” (Patris Corde, No. 3)
Conclusion: Let us Start Afresh from Christ
As Lenten Season begins, let us remember to start afresh from Christ. We are called Christians because Christ is our focal point. He is the summit and source of our being. We exist because of Him and it is to Him that each one of us is tending. Our life on earth is a pilgrimage towards our eternal home. It is important that we keep our noble identity of Christianity untainted and uncontaminated by the ephemeral and illusory pleasures of this world. And where we have gone astray due to human frailty let this Lenten Season be a period of starting afresh from Christ who is the perfect example worth imitating. May the Lord bless you all throughout this Lenten Season, and may this period be a period of inner transformation and reconciliation with God and other people.
