Lent

For years I never understood why I disliked Lent so much. It wasn't the sacrificial aspect. Anyone who has lived beyond the age of ten is often aware that you can't go through life without making a sacrifice.

One day it hit me. We water down the great mysteries of our faith - we are so accustomed to weaving faith into some feel-good narrative - that we are taken aback when we are presented with the rawest of human emotions.

Lent and Passiontide bring before us our innermost fears; suffering, the fear of death, our helplessness before temptation, betrayal by friends and family, loneliness, indifference, abandonment, rejection, the loss of loved ones - if possible, we'd prefer not to think about these things.

However, the cross we are presented with is not one which allows us to drown in self-pity. Christ's cross becomes an instrument for glory. And, as the motto of the Carthusian Order reminds us, "The Cross is steady while the world is turning."

May we have a blessed Lent in the knowledge that Christ also seeks to transform our pain and disappointment.