The Work of Lent
A Reflection by Jean Glaraton
Two past seasons of Lent changed me forever. During the first, I gave up yelling, having decided as a young mom to find a different outlet for my anxiety and stress. Family time was more peaceful and less hurtful. In the second, we used Operation Rice Bowl to become aware of and minimize food waste. Taking more than we could eat, purchasing an excess of perishables, and serving portions that were too big for our youngsters meant lots of coins went into our little cardboard rice bowl in the early days of Lent – a quarter for each offense. Toward the end, our behavior changed, and to this day, I think of that season and practice what we learned.
Recognizing the need for internal change led to that first memorable Lenten season. Learning during a volunteer service opportunity how there are children in our world who eat mud just to have something in their bellies was the impetus for the second. Both led to lasting change.
This Lenten season feels different. The period of global uncertainty and upheaval is intensifying. As I strive to reconcile my inner chaos with some sense of understanding, I have been studying Jesus the prophet. As we live deeper into the unknown, we have in him a model of how to survive the desert. Jesus went into the quiet, spent time in discernment and prayer, hungered, and resisted temptation. He emerged healer and prophet, strengthened, resolved, and prepared.
Life can feel like a series of meaningless, disconnected experiences unless you intentionally take the time to reflect and find some nugget of wisdom. People with belief systems or ways of life different than your own will be strangers and perhaps surface uncomfortable feelings within you until you take the time to get to know them. With time and experience, these contemplative practices can become both habit and way of life.
One Body with Many Members
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.
- 1 Cor 12:12-14
Until now, I have felt most aligned with being the hands and feet of Jesus. During a recent discussion with my church group, I shared how I am recognizing more and more a call to be the voice. Far outside my comfort zone, I was treading lightly. Then, during a movement meditation session, a series of moments in my life surfaced, times when I was unkind, ignorant, and disrespectful in a way that while unintentional, was nonetheless hurtful.
If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
-1 Cor 12: 26-27
Having opened myself to the possibility of change, I realized that my today-self was yearning to make amends, to use my voice and actions not to right past wrongs, but to acknowledge them and do better. My Lenten practice has been centered around doing my part to make the present and future better. In the words of Joan Chittister in her book, “The Time is Now: A Call to Uncommon Courage,” “If not for us, then because of us.” “We must not fear the darkness; we must simply resolve to carry light into wherever we are.”
In the Scripture passages shared above, Paul tells us that we are individually parts of Christ's body. Use your remaining time in the desert to answer these questions: What part of Christ's body best describes how you feel and act? What part of Christ's Body would you like to be? How are you called to grow? Whether your pull toward change is internal or external, use this season to experience, explore, and take action. Contemplate how you can atone for those times in your life when you were not as aligned with Jesus the healer and prophet as you could be.
But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
-1 Cor 12:31
Jean Glaraton
Jean has worked in spiritual growth ministry for the past twenty years. She is a writer and edits the reflections and online retreats for Retreat, Reflect, Renew.