A Lent like no other

Richard A. Sokerka

As Catholics know, Lent is a time of penance, prayer and charity. Yet, no Lent in our lifetime has ever been as challenging as the Lent of 2020.

Just a short time after Ash Wednesday, we were all relegated to our homes, working from there and taking care of children, whose schools have been closed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic. The government has curtailed all large gatherings of people, including those at all houses of worship.

Yet in our forced isolation from one another, Pope Francis says that there are many small acts of love and kindness we can do for others without leaving the house this Lent.

“We must rediscover the concreteness of little things, small gestures of attention we can offer those close to us, our family, our friends. We must understand that in small things lies our treasure,” Pope Francis said. “For example, a hot meal, a caress, a hug, a phone call... They are familiar gestures of attention to the details of everyday life that make life meaningful and that create communion and communication among us,” the Holy Father said.

Pope Francis said that the quarantine many people are living through right now provides a particular opportunity to grow in personal relationships at home, but this requires disconnecting from technology to spend quality time together.

“In their homes, families often eat together in great silence, but not as a result of listening to each other, rather because the parents watch television while they eat, and children are on their mobile phones,” he said. “Here there is no communication, whereas listening to each other is important because that’s how we can understand the needs, efforts, desires of the other.”

The Pope also asked everyone to reach out to those who are alone or who have lost loved ones. “Consolation must not be everyone’s commitment,” he added.

He urged people to remember that one’s personal choices and actions have consequences for the lives of others.

“During these difficult days we can find small, concrete gestures expressing closeness and concreteness towards the people closest to us, a caress for our grandparents, a kiss for our children, for the people we love. These are important, decisive gestures. If we live these days like this, they won’t be wasted,” Pope Francis said.

The small gestures the Pope suggests during this time of isolation can strengthen our faith lives during a Lenten season we will not soon forget.