We are entering the season of Lent, which is the 40 days preceding the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ as commemorated by Christians around the world. The Lenten season ends the Saturday before Easter Sunday, which this year is celebrated by both the Western and Eastern churches on April 20. It is a rare and auspicious occasion for both Western and Eastern churches to be observing Easter on the same day.
Lent starts tomorrow on Ash Wednesday, March 5. Some churches conduct a ritual on Fridays during Lent consisting of prayers associated with Jesus’s Stations of the Cross. One source describes the purpose of Lent as follows:
We begin this holy season by acknowledging our need for repentance and our need for the love and forgiveness shown to us in Jesus Christ. I invite you, therefore, in the name of Christ, to observe a Holy Lent, by self-examination and penitence, by prayer and fasting, by practicing works of love, and by reading and reflecting on God's Holy Word.
Here at Three Sages, we will be observing Lent by special postings on spiritual topics, including passages from the New Testament and other sources. At the same time, we honor and affirm all other religions derived from similar spiritual sources to the Christian revelation. Those with which we are most familiar are the Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist religions.
For those readers who have a strong interest in exploring Jesus’s life and teachings, the literature is vast. A classic in the field is Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s The Quest of the Historical Jesus, first published in 1906, with the First Fortress Press edition appearing in 2001.
Another highly recommended source is the writings of German spiritual master Bô Yin Râ (Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, 1876-1943), whose work has been featured a number of times on Three Sages.
In his book More Light, Bô Yin Râ makes the following observation which is highly pertinent to the meaning and practice of Lent:
All the world’s religions call upon human beings to turn back in some way—to search for and find again their original home within the Spirit—although each faith may envision this spiritual home and the path that leads there in very different ways.
Common to all religions, however, is the realization that the conditions in which humans find themselves in their existence here on earth is not the same as what they may experience in their primordial home within the realm of Spirit. There is the realization as well that this renewed state of being can only be attained through ennoblement of one’s actions; that is, by subordinating one’s lower impulses to higher ones. (“More Light” by Bô Yin Râ, Kober Press, 2020, p.127, Fair Use Claimed. Also see Kober’s on-line edition of “The Book on the Living God” here, especially the chapter “On Eternal Life.”)
For those seeking a devotional approach, we recommend the writings of Janice T. Connell, including her book Meetings with Mary: Visions of the Blessed Mother, as well as information pertaining to St. Jude, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. From the website of the National Shrine of St. Jude:
St. Jude is the Catholic patron saint of impossible causes. The National Shrine of St. Jude and the St. Jude League bring together hundreds of thousands of devotees in a community of prayer and hope to our patron saint. We invite you to join us and send your prayers to St. Jude, as he has proven to be a beacon of hope to those facing seemingly impossible trials and tribulations. See this.
Of course many of us have felt in these difficult times the need for help in pursuing what appear to be “impossible causes.” The message we at Three Sages wish to convey this Lenten season is that help is indeed available if we look both upwards and inwardly.
Blessings to all.