On Tuesday 9th February a spacecraft started orbiting the planet Mars. It made headlines because the probe was sent there by the United Arab Emirates, a country we don’t associate with space exploration. Another Mars probe arrived a day later, on 10th February; this one was sent out by China. And tomorrow, on 18th February, an American spacecraft has its scheduled arrival. It’s a bit like the proverbial Aberdeen buses: ‘You wait ages for one – and then two come along at the same time!’ However, unlike the buses, there’s a very good reason why the Mars orbit becomes so crowded at this particular time. ‘The timing of the launches was dictated by Mars and Earth’s orbits, with a single one-month window during which the planets are close enough together to permit the seven-month journey. That window wouldn’t have opened again for another 26 months.’ A window of opportunity.
‘At the favourable time, I have listened to you; on the day of salvation, I came to your help.’ In the second reading St Paul recalls a window of opportunity given by God to the exiles of Israel in Babylon. Consequently, they were free to return to their homeland and to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the Temple; in other words, to rebuild their lives. But Paul goes further than simply recalling the glorious past. He announces the opening of a new window of opportunity: ‘Well, now is the favourable time; this is the day of salvation.’ Lent has been launched.
The Mars explorers now crowding around the planet are not vanity projects, like a certain rich man’s car sent into space a couple of years ago. Those expensive spacecrafts have well-defined goals to achieve. Similarly, if we want to make good use of Lent, our window of opportunity, we must define our goals in a clear-cut manner. Commonly, spiritual life is wrongly seen as nebulous and vague; because of that, any progress seems to be impossible to measure. Consequently, we try to do ‘spiritual things’ but give up easily as we see neither any progress nor any benefit; religious practices become rituals with minimal or no effect in our everyday life. So, you need an identifiable and – crucially – verifiable goal for Lent. ‘I want to be a better person’ sounds good but nebulous and it’s hard to verify. ‘I want to apologise every time I have upset my spouse’ can be easily checked. There are three main types of goals to achieve: The first is the dumping of sinful or harmful or undesirable attitudes, habits or behaviours. The second one is mastering positive attitudes, habits or behaviours. The third one is gaining new spiritual abilities or skills.
Back to the Mars explorers… They were launched within the current window of opportunity to achieve well-defined and verifiable goals. To do so, they have been equipped with a variety of onboard instruments. Lent is no different. We need the right tools too. Today’s gospel listed the traditional triad of prayer, fast and almsgiving (or charitable offering). The first one – prayer – provides communication with the ‘divine mission control centre’. It needs no further explanation. The second one – fast – has a much wider scope than various levels of food deprivation. Chapter 58 of the prophet Isaiah describes a good fast very well:
‘I will tell you the kind of fast I want – a fast to set people free. I want a fast that you take the burdens off others. I want a fast when you set troubled people free and you take the burdens from their shoulders. I want you to share your food with the hungry. I want you to find the poor who don’t have homes and bring them into your own homes. When you see people who have no clothes, give them your clothes! Don’t hide from your relatives when they need help. Stop causing trouble and putting burdens on people. Stop saying things to hurt people or accusing them of things they didn’t do. Feel sorry for hungry people and give them food. Help those who are troubled and satisfy their needs.’
That’s a bit challenging, isn’t it? The third tool is almsgiving or charitable offering. It’s a particularly useful tool in the modern culture of self-absorption and self-centeredness. Looking out can help us to see our own troubles in the right perspective, often leading to a healthy conclusion that we are actually rather fortunate.
So, there we are. Lent has launched and we can take advantage of our spiritual window of opportunity. With well-defined and verifiable goals, well-equipped with fine spiritual instruments, we can embark on a 40-day long journey towards the centre of our spiritual universe: the Risen Lord Jesus Christ.
Image by Alexander Antropov from Pixabay