Lent is a penitential season, an observance of the forty days and forty nights when Jesus fasted in the wilderness and triumphed over the world, the flesh and the devil. It is also a symbolic remembrance of the forty years when Israel wandered in the wilderness and learned valuable lessons from God. Scriptures tell us that in those forty years, God walked with Israel “as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of light by night.”

Japanese theologian Kosuke Koyama said, “If you compute the speed of God with Israel, it would amount to three-mile-an-hour.” God indeed slowed down in teaching about His ways and in walking His paths.

Lent culminates in the Passion Week, the last days of Jesus. On the way to Golgotha, Jesus was slowed down by the weight of the cross. He finally stopped when he was nailed on the cross.

Lent is therefore a time to slow down from our busy activities and to stop, so we can have time to reflect on life’s meaning and priorities and be renewed for service.
 
In our churches, find opportunities for reflection and renewal. Attend Holy Eucharist every Sunday and join the Lenten Lectures or Bible Studies. Participate in Holy Week Festivities that would include:

March 16  - Palm Sunday (Procession of Palms & Dramatic Reading of the Passion)
March 20 - Maundy Thursday (Last Supper & Washing of the Apostles’ Feet)
March 21  – Good Friday (Way of the Cross & Jesus’ Seven Last Words)
March 22 - Easter Vigil (Lessons and Hymns from Creation to Revelation)
March 23 – Easter Sunday (Procession & Joyful Celebration of Christ’s Resurrection)

May the season of Lent be "a springtime” of prayer, reflection and renewal of our life as a people and as a community

In Christ,
Fred+
The Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara
Program Officer for Asian American Ministries