Stewards of a Happy Lent

From Dan Conway’s The Good Steward, March 2007

“During the forty days of Lent, we dedicate ourselves to ascetical practices and to the threefold observance of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. We don’t ordinarily asso­ciate these activities with the pursuit of happiness, but perhaps it’s time we looked at Lent differently. In fact, it’s quite possible that increased communication with God, self-denial and generous sharing with others are the keys to happiness and the surefire secret recipe for ex­periencing Easter joy.

Most of us would benefit from more Lenten ob­servance all year round. That’s why the Church offers us this season of grace – to remind us that we are called to follow Jesus, without counting the cost, in good times and bad, through the sorrows of pain and death to the joy of resurrection.

Lent is not a happy time – if our understanding of hap­piness is superficial or self-centered. But Lent can, and should, be a time of peace, contentment and the antici­pation of Easter joy …”

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