Mark Shea on God's Gift of Lent

"Many of my Protestant friends are uncomfortable with Lent. 'It's all about mortification and self-discipline when we know that the Risen Jesus is joyful and alive!' they say. 'We don't need to mortify ourselves to please God. That's why Jesus died for us, so we don't have be 'good enough'. Moreover, Catholics call it a 'holy season' and Paul says in Colossians 2:16-17 that we shouldn't observe any day as special. So hasn't the Church disobeyed the Bible by doing the Lenten thing?'

"Before we talk about Lent as a supposed way of 'being good enough' for God, let's begin with this last objection first: that the Lenten season is somehow unbiblical. Now with all due respect, this seems to me to miss the whole point, not only of Paul's warning in Colossians, but of being a human being. For consider how we behave in all the areas of life we don't stick in the religion bin for special treatment.

"We observe birthdays and anniversaries, for instance. Are we denying God's word in doing so? Or are we simply doing what all humans do when they have occasion to celebrate or honor something? Likewise, we observe anniversaries, National Save-the-Endangered-Squid Week, Mother's Day and moments of silence for victims of the Challenger disaster. Why? Because a basic human way of honoring and loving something is to set aside a span of time in reserve for it. It's why we have story times for our kids and romantic times with our spouses and quiet times with God. It wouldn't be the same without such a time of focused attention.

"Now Lent is a 40 day quiet time in which we are called to do nothing more or other than focus on the sufferings of Jesus in same way. Just as birthdays cause us to zero in on the happy occasion of birth and the remembrance of November 22, 1963 gives us pause to contemplate the life and death of President Kennedy, so Lent calls us to attend carefully to the Christ Who denies himself for our sakes, goes into the wilderness and confronts evil in preparation for his great saving work. . . ."

In a recent commentary, writer Mark Shea reflects on how Lent is a good time for reflection on the saving work of Jesus and on how we can better follow Him.

To access Mark's complete post, please visit:

National Catholic Register: Mark Shea: God's Gift of Lent (10 FEB 16)