By Frank Wessling
What we do differently during Lent makes two statements. One is about our own grasp of faith in the God revealed in Jesus. The other is about ego: whether we want to be a part, a small, insignificant part, of communicating something we don’t fully grasp.
Looked at in one way, Lent is so easy a child can do it. The elements are practical things easy to understand. Fasting, check. Praying, check. Give stuff to the needy, check.
But that’s why this practical routine challenges the developing and hardening ego: I’m so important that this can’t be enough. Anybody and everybody can do it. Imagine a conversation in the divine Trinity along those lines. The Son says to the Father, “You want me to become what? Human?! That would be a waste of my cosmic power!”
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