The beauty and challenge of Lent: How the liturgy leads us into penance
Monday, March 17, 2025
*Fr. Richard Vigoa
The season of Lent is unlike any other time in the Church’s liturgical calendar. It is a season marked by both challenge and beauty, penance and promise, and a call to conversion and renewal. Every year, the Church invites us to walk this sacred path - a journey that is difficult, yes, but one that ultimately leads to transformation.
What makes Lent so unique? It is not just the external disciplines of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. It is not merely a time of “giving something up” or adopting temporary sacrifices. No, Lent is far more profound than that. It is a season designed by the Church, through her sacred liturgy, to reorient our hearts toward God.
Through the prayers, readings, symbols, and rituals of the liturgy, we are immersed in the reality of our own sinfulness but also in God's boundless mercy. We are reminded that we are dust but also that we are loved. We are confronted with our need for conversion but also with the hope of the Resurrection.
Lent begins in the most striking way possible: Ash Wednesday.
The imposition of ashes on our foreheads, accompanied by the words “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” immediately sets the tone for the season. It should prompt us to contemplate our mortality, frailty, and utter dependence on God.
The readings throughout the season echo this call to repentance. We hear the words of Joel: “Return to me with your whole heart” (Joel 2:12). We are reminded of Christ’s own forty days in the desert, where He fasted and resisted the temptations of the devil. The Gospel readings urge us to turn away from sin, to forgive as we have been forgiven, and to love in a way that reflects Christ's sacrificial love.
But the call to penance is not about guilt but grace. The entire Lenten liturgy leads us not to despair over our sinfulness, but to hope in God’s mercy.
This is why, during Lent, we recite the Penitential Act with greater awareness. We abstain from singing the Gloria, allowing our hearts to long for the joy of Easter. The omission of the Alleluia reminds us that we are in a time of spiritual battle, a time of purification. Even the liturgical colors shift to violet, reflecting the mood of repentance and preparation.
Everything about the Church’s liturgy in Lent reminds us: This is the time to return to the Lord. This is the time for conversion. This is the time for grace.
While Lent is a season of penance, it is also a season of immense beauty—a solemn, rich, and deeply transformative beauty.
One of the most powerful aspects of the Lenten liturgy is its simplicity. The absence of flowers on the altar reflects the interior stripping away of distractions, calling us to focus on what truly matters. The more subdued music allows us to enter into deeper prayer and reflection. The increased emphasis on silence during Mass reminds us that true transformation happens when we quiet our hearts and listen to God’s voice.
Lent is also the season when the Church, in her wisdom, emphasizes the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Many parishes offer penance services, additional confession times, and communal opportunities for repentance. The liturgy leads us toward this great encounter with divine mercy, urging us not to remain in sin but to seek the freedom only Christ can give.
Lent is not meant to be easy. If we go through these forty days unchanged, something is missing. The liturgical rhythm of Lent is designed to shake us out of spiritual complacency, to challenge us, and to make us uncomfortable in our sins so that we may truly experience freedom in Christ.
If we fully embrace the beauty and challenge of this season, we will arrive at Easter transformed. We will experience the Resurrection not just as an event in history but as a personal victory over sin and death in our own lives.
Lent is a gift. The liturgy is our guide. May we have the courage to follow where it leads.
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