Spiritual Boot Camp

Tomorrow, more than a billion Christians around the world will begin a 40-day period of intensified prayer, alms giving, and self-denial. The purpose, like boot camp for inductees into the army, is to prepare for warfare except that Christians are engaged in conflict already, while inductees have not yet entered into actual battle.

Most of us who call ourselves Christians and claim that we love God still find ourselves falling for the empty promises of Satan, just like our ancestors, Adam and Eve. Throughout our lives, we find ways to distrust God’s love and provisions for us and convince ourselves that, just this once, in this very tiny manner, with these most unusual circumstances, we can proceed on our own without exactly following His lead.

During Lent we return to the basics, repent of our stupidity and faithlessness, exercise our flabby faith muscles, and learn to match our actions with our ideals by helping the “least of these” in our midst. The goal is to emerge on Easter Sunday as a new, improved version of ourselves, closer to the person God had in His mind when He created us.

We may never reach the mark, but, like St. Paul, we press on toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

If you are interested in reading more about the purpose of Lent, I suggest Fr. Philip Powell’s Blog, Domine Da Mihi Hanc Aquam (Lord, give me this water). Today, he has posted a short Lenten Prayer and reasons for Thanking the Devil. If you want a compendium of practical Lenten information, go to Aggie Catholics.