The Journey That is Lent

We’re in Lent. The word comes from a Germanic root, the Anglo-Saxon Lencton meaning lengthen, for the days are growing longer now and hope of spring is in the air. The crocuses are peeping out of the snow and in some warm valleys the almond trees begin to bloom. 

Lent comprises the 40 days leading up to Holy Week in which with Easter we celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord, new life, rebirth. The word Easter comes from the root Oestrus, denoting eggs, birth, spring, creativity, rejoicing, fecundity; and that date is determined suitably by the phases of the moon. 

But first comes the time when Christ fled for 40 days into the wilderness, to commune with his own soul, with God. It’s a time of prayer and fasting. This is the hero’s journey, the inner journey to the soul, which is to say, to that mystical and magical moment where by grace we meet and are embraced by unconditional, unfathomable love.