During Lent, we focus on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving because it helps us to connect with God through prayer. We discipline ourselves through fasting and abstinence, and serve others through charity. Lent provides us with a spiritual detox through repentance, penance, and renewal. God has blessed us with a season for everything, a season for feasting and celebration and a season for abstinence and renewal.

Lent is a season of an inward deeper journey towards God. If you have ever been on a detox, you know that it is not an easy phase. I can relate to it as drinking bitter medicine. My parents gave us bitter medicine to drink if we ate too many sweets. The bitter medicine was made from boiling bitter herbs which gave them the bitter unpleasant taste. As much as we didn’t like it, apparently, it was good for us as it built up our immunity and cured sore throat and common cold. I always found that the bitter medicine, in the end, would leave a subtle sweetness. Lent, at times, feels like bitter medicine for our soul. A season where we are overly cautious and examine our way of life, digging deeper into our soul to repent, and cleanse ourselves of everything evil, so that we can have a healthy relationship with God and others.

Lent draws us to meditate on the bitter passion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Just like the bitter medicine has a subtle sweetness that is felt as the bitterness wears off. Lent too has bitter sweetness to it. One who is full loathes honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet (Proverbs 27:7). In our world of consumerism and plenty, we have lost the appreciation of things, and moreover, the true meaning of life. Lent helps us to detach from worldly things and although, many times, this process is painful and bitter, this emptiness draws us to God, who is the source of all sweetness.

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