1st Sunday of Lent

The Lenten season is often compared to a journey. Just as, in the Old Testament, the People of Israel travelled for 40 years to reach the Promised Land, so duing Lent the Church collectively journeys towards the feast of Easter – Easter itself holding out to us a promise greater than that given to the Israelites – the promise of Eternal Life, won for us by Jesus. Just as the Israelites had their problems on the journey – weakness, disobedience, discouragement – so too our own Lenten journey is rarely straightforward! But it is important we never lose sight of the destination, and persevere.

In the City of Rome, from earliest times, this imagery of the ‘journey’ was taken very seriously. Lent began (as it still does) with the Pope going in procession to the ancient basilica of Santa Sabina high up on the Aventine Hill, there to distribute the blessed ashes. Then, every day in Lent was assigned a ‘station church’ – each day the people would gather for Mass in that particular place, gradually wending their way through the whole city, until at last Easter was celebrated with great solemnity at St John Lateran, the Pope’s cathedral.

Originally the Pope himself celebrated every ‘Station Mass’. This is no longer possible, but still, every day, groups of the faithful meet at the station churches – the major relics of the place are displayed and venerated, Mass is sung and the celebration normally ends with a procession.

Such a custom is very suited to the holy city of Rome, with its innumerable chuches – it would be rather more difficult to adopt in England. But the idea of the ‘station’ (literally ‘stop‘) can still be useful to us in our Lenten observances. How often we start Lent full of good resolutions, only to find we slip back into our old ways very quickly! On Ash Wednesday we are full of fervour, but all too soon our good intentions have mysteriously faded away…

Hence it is a good idea to ‘stop’ at regular intervals – perhaps every weekend – and simply asses how Lent is going for us. Have we made progress? If not, what has gone wrong? Can I put it right next week?

Don’t be discouraged – God is always prepared to give a second chance – but do be prepared to persevere, even when things are hard. After all, Our Lord himself fell three times on the way to Calvary, but he carried on to win us our Salvation.