I hear the inevitable moan every first Sunday in Lent.

“Why does Lent have to be so somber and boring?”

I invite those who ask this question to join me in looking at things from a different perspective, one that Joan Chittister describes. If we genuinely cannot participate in liturgy without the alleluias, it may very well be that the star of Bethlehem has grown dim in our lives and our churches. We very much need a time of refocusing before we can move on.

The reality is that we cannot be an Easter people without first being a Lenten people. The feasts are meaningless without the fasts.

Photo:
Flickr, creative commons 2.0