Lent helps us to do something hard but necessary: to take up our cross to follow Jesus. For some reason, we aren’t generally enthused about carrying crosses even if we hypothetically understand that it’s part of the Christian life. The Christian life, however, calls us to nothing less than dying to ourselves so that we can live for God.
What does it mean to die to oneself? In our fallenness, we tend to think of ourselves first, putting our feelings and desires before others and even God. Jesus calls us, with his help, to reverse that order, putting God and others before ourselves, being drawn out of ourselves in love.
The problem is: loving God and others before self is easier said than done. This is why we have penitential times so that we can learn to say “no” to ourselves and our desires. Even something as simple as not eating the food that we like or as much as we like is a sign that we are called to sacrifice for something greater.
From basic penitential acts, we are called to deeper, internal acts of putting others before self. First of all, sacrificing time for God in prayer says “no” to being in control of our own time. We recognize that God is more important than the things we want to do. We are called to faith and obedience to God, putting his will and truth before our own opinions and desires.
It is the same with others. We need to make time to be present to others, both our families and those in need. Carving out time to serve others shows that we are not simply trapped within ourselves. We have to learn to be attentive to what others need and to make sacrifices to help them.
All of these acts–giving up food, time in prayer, or putting others first–are sacrifices that enable us to take up our cross with Jesus. They make us Christ-like in imitating Jesus’s love of the Fathers and those for whom he gave his life.
