Life Out There by Nadia Lawand (Mar. ’02)
For many of us college and university students, March is big on studying for midterms and looking forward to Spring Break. What we sometimes overlook in the hustle and bustle of midterms is Great Lent.
We live in a materialistic society where “things” and having “things” are extremely important. People look for self-pleasure rather than the gratification that can only come from virtuous acts such as fasting, prayers, and altruistic service to others. These things are not necessarily easy or fun to do, but they have a positive effect on society.
As we live in our current society, we mustn’t think of Lent as a time where we simply eat less meat, go to more church services, and deprive ourselves. As we fast we imitate what the Prophet Moses, St. John the Baptist, Jesus Christ Himself, and many others did. We purify our minds and souls from our hectic society and open our hearts to God. Fasting takes place both with our body and with our spirit and therefore our participation is dependant upon our personal situations.
Therefore, there are multiple ways we can observe the fast during Lent. There are so many things we can do. While fasting from types of food such as meat or dairy, we need to be vigilant and keep the fast. These are bodily factors. We must be vigilant in many different ways, such as: attending services and participating attentively, especially during Holy Week, being watchful of our words and thoughts so not to be angry, judgmental, or gossipy.
In such a busy society as ours it is very difficult to keep away all the noise, distractions, and temptations; but we must limit all the noise on the exterior in order to be able to concentrate on the interior. Even as students in college and university we are able to obey the fast for Lent. Yes, we have mid-terms, we are away from home, we only have cafeteria food, we have so much stress, and not much time to go to services, but that’s not an excuse. We can turn off our MSN and AOL Instant Messaging, unplug our televisions, stop going to movies, stop drinking, and attempt to focus on Christ instead. We need to look outside the box and really re-think the purpose of Lent in order to truly participate to the best of our abilities.
So this Lent, let’s all try to change our thoughts and direction. With prayer, repentance and focus we can keep our thoughts on God and become closer to God. This is a time when we must seek knowledge, discipline ourselves, and put aside the physical world for God.
Nadia Lawand is a first-year university student (equivalent to a sophomore) at Concordia University in Montreal.
