A Formative Lent
by Carol Zinn, SSJ -- LCWR President-Elect
Lent began differently for me this year. Florence Deacon, OSF; Pat Farrell, OSF; Janet Mock, CSJ; and I spent Ash Wednesday together, literally. We came together to sit in prayer, reflect in silence, discern in solitude, speak in truth, act in love, and move forward in hope with LCWR’s ongoing response to the results of the doctrinal assessment. Ash Wednesday provided an intense experience of 40 Lenten days compressed into one calendar day, an experience of being formed, again, anew, in the Spirit of Jesus.
Mindful of the biblical concept of 40 days (formation), I find myself asking this question: "What is being formed in me; why; and for whom?" I think this question naturally has a plural form: "What is being formed in us; why; and for whom?" Persevering in this Lenten formation demands deep prayer, deep silence, and deep listening. Persevering in this Lenten formation invites a vulnerability, humility, gentle strength, and visible change that reflects the vulnerability, humility, gentle strength, and visible change we see emerge in Jesus as he journeys from the desert to the cross.
