Lent has arrived and it’s that time of the year again where we give up meat and fast for forty days before celebrating Easter. Most of us have this preconceived notion that Lent is about doing these two things and is purely a time of solemn offering, but is that what Lent
really is all about? This episode touches on the essence of Lent in a nutshell and the other things we can offer of ourselves in this time of spiritual preparation and self-reflection. Michelle Nyanam brings to you a different way we can celebrate the season of Lent for the
year 2013.
Michelle Nyanam: Hi, everyone! You’re tuning in to the SIC Youth Ministry podcast — second podcast, to be exact. My name is Michelle and today, I’ll be talking to you about the things we can do during the season of Lent. Okay, when I say the word “Lent”, what comes to your mind? Usually, what would come to most people’s minds are words like fasting, abstaining and sacrifice, but those words are a little bit, scary, don’t you think? And a bit discouraging — it seems a bit tough to do all those things. I’m not saying it’s wrong or anything… I mean, Lent is definitely about repentance and sacrifice. It’s a time where we acknowledge our weakness and when we humble ourselves. We really need to depend on God’s strength during this season of Lent and also grow mentally and spiritually. But I’m just saying, how about we make this Lent a different one… something a bit more memorable? You know, when we think of Lent of 2013, let this be a time or a memory of us rising and shining as individuals of Christ. When we think of Lent, maybe think of words like joy, charity, contentment — positive words. Okay, our usual practices of Lent would be fasting from food and abstaining from meat, but these are things we do almost every year — year in and year out. It’s become a habit to us… something so normal, something we don’t even have to think about, we just say “Oh, yeah, I’m vegetarian, I’m vegetarian, that’s it.” You know, we don’t really have to turn to God anymore for help to get us through this month. So let’s do something that requires us to go to God, to lean on Him, to depend on Him for strength… something a bit more different. A few examples of things we can do during this season of Lent would be like… taking a cold shower early in the morning. You all don’t do that, do you? I know, I know. Okay, the next thing you can do is maybe saying “I love you” to your parents every night before going to bed. It’s a hard change; some of us are not very comfortable showing affection that way, but you may not know. Your parents might take it in a good way and it’ll be good for you. The third thing you can do is maybe saying the Rosary while exercising. While you’re jogging, every step you take, you may go like, “Hail Mary, full of grace…”, that kind of thing. That way, it keeps you healthy and you get to remember the Rosary and get to say your daily prayer. The fourth thing you can do is being a little bit more helpful… maybe like, helping your teacher carry his or her bags or books, or when you see a friend in need, you volunteer yourself and go help out. The fifth thing you can do is also standing in a bus or LRT (Light Rail Transit) or any public transportation for that matter to give way to the elderly and the disabled. You can also, every morning, say a prayer for one person you don’t like. That’s a change, right? Instead of saying a prayer for yourself or people you really care about, this time, you say a prayer for someone you don’t like, you know? It’s something different during this Lent. All these actions may seem like small things and you wouldn’t think that they can make a drastic or big change in someone’s life, but I’m telling you, it’s all these small actions that really count. They may affect you or someone else in different, unexpected ways and you may not even know it. Through these actions, it not only benefits you, it benefits someone else too. You know, while you’re practising changes in the season of Lent, you can shine the light of Christ to the people around you. People can see you and say that “That boy is a follower of Christ,” or “That girl is a Christian.” In the same way, you can glorify God. That is about it for my topic on what we can do for Lent. Now, if you have any other questions or anything you would like us to answer or talk about, feel free to leave it on the comments or you can private message us on our Facebook(@https://www.facebook.com/SICJYM) and Twitter accounts(@https://twitter.com/sic_jym). That’s it! Bye!
You can also listen and download our audio version @ http://yourlisten.com/channel/content/16955727/What_Can_We_Do_For_Lent?
