I love organizing. It’s one of my most useful vices. Normally through the course of the year I go through just about every cabinet and shelf and closet to sort out things that no longer need to be kept, and to optimize the organization of what is left. Last year being what it was, I didn’t get to do that, so since the start of January, I have been immersing myself in catching up on it. Several boxes have gone to Goodwill already. It gives me a sense of security and freedom to know just what I have and where it is, and to feel reasonably sure that I am not allowing my house to build up a weight of unnecessary belongings.

For most of the world, yesterday was a big day. Mardi Gras is one of the biggest parties of the year, an excuse for drunkenness, lewdness, and revelry – a celebration of debauchery. I doubt that the majority of the celebrants even know what Mardi Gras means. As far as the world goes, hey, any excuse for a party, right? As for Lent itself, the world, if it has any knowledge of it at all, sees it only as the spoilsport of Mardi Gras . Even among Christians, there are a lot of erroneous ideas about what Lent is, associating it only with having to “give something up” for Lent. In reality, Lent is a positive, deeply meaningful season.

From the early centuries of the Church, a traditional calendar grew up that marked certain milestones in the life of Christ and of His Church, not unlike the Jewish festivals which likewise follow the seasons and serve as reminders of important events in the Old Testament. Most Protestant churches have abandoned that liturgical calendar, which is a shame, for, just as the Jewish people would through the year relive key moments of their history, so, too, does the liturgical calendar call Christians to reflect on key moments in ours. The calendar begins with the season of Advent, a time of preparation for Christmas, calling for reflection on why Christ came and focusing on the foretelling of His birth and earthly life. Next comes the twelve days of Christmas, celebrating His birth. January 6^th marks Epiphany, remembering the coming of the Magi. The season of Epiphany lasts until Lent, and the focus during this time is the life and ministry of our Lord, with the study of the Gospels. Lent is a time of preparation for Easter, and the Easter season itself lasts until Pentecost, when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. From Pentecost until the final Sunday before Advent, the focus is on the Church and the non-Gospel books of the New Testament. The final Sunday before Advent is known as Christ the King Sunday, a celebration of Jesus’ second and final coming when He shall reign forever. While none of these seasons and celebrations are, of course, dictated by Scripture, their observance gives a beautiful rhythm to the year. As put by Archbishop J. Peter Sartrain, “The liturgical year continuously exposes us to every aspect of the mystery of Christ – not because we best understand His life, death, and resurrection in chronological order, but because by being continuously exposed to Christ, we allow Him to enter more deeply into our lives. The same lesson I learn this year can be deepened next year, both because I have had new experiences and because I have allowed Christ to help me understand them in His light.”

Last week a friend gave me two little devotion booklets for Lent. One of the booklets begins with the prayer used by the Roman Catholic Church for the first Sunday in Lent which I think is going to serve as a thoughtful starting place for me this season. “Grant, almighty God, through the yearly observance of holy Lent, that we may grow in understanding of the riches hidden in Christ and by worthy conduct pursue their effects.” For some, Lent is a season of focusing on their own sinfulness and unworthiness, and fasting from some certain food or activity is simply a form of self-mortification to emphasize the point. How very different an approach, then, to consider Lent not a time to look inward only, but as a time to immerse oneself in focusing on growing in understanding, not of ourselves and how horrible we are, but of HIM, and how great He is. From that starting place, we then consider our lives and how we are living them. It is a time of doing to my life what I am doing to my house: facing up to what’s there and deciding if it’s something I should keep or get rid of, or if there’s a better way I should be handling it.

We all have things in our lives that we need to get rid of or change; we all need to “clean house.” Let this Lenten season be our opportunity for asking our Father to shine His light into the all the corners, and then asking Him to help sort out what we need to get rid of.