First word
IT’s a wonderful coincidence that the sacred time of Lent in our Christian faith is taking place at a time of anxious searching for reform, regeneration and renewal by the family that is our nation.
The religious and the secular converge this week around the singular theme of renewal.
From our Christian faith, we know in our bones that Lent is the most sacred season in the Church calendar, lasting 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, leading up to Easter Sunday. It is a time of repentance, prayer, fasting and almsgiving, preparing believers to reflect on Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. Modeled after Jesus’ 40 days in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11), Lent calls us to turn away from sin and grow closer to God.
Lent is a season of spiritual renewal, inviting Catholics to:
– Deepen their relationship with God through prayer.
– Seek conversion by repenting from sin.
– Practice self-discipline through fasting and sacrifice.
– Grow in charity by helping those in need.
It is a journey toward Easter, helping us experience Christ’s suffering, death and ultimate victory over sin and death.
“Lent is a time of grace, a time to turn back to God with all our hearts.”
In a similar way this time ought also to be a time of renewal, for our Filipino nation which has undergone over the past year a severe ordeal and crisis of confidence and values.
On the cross of the horrible flood control fund scam and corruption scandal, the nation has lived through its own crucifixion like Jesus Christ. And we are now desperately trying to find our way back to recover our moral bearings as a nation.
We long for the resurrection of our public institutions, including the legislative, executive and judiciary. We wonder whether our national politics can be restored to right and serious purpose after its total surrender to corruption and the pork barrel. It is appalling that the politicians whose careers are now in ruins are repeat offenders in official misconduct who were elected repeatedly in national elections
The great statesman teacher and author John Gardner writes in his wise and widely admired book “On Leadership” (1990) that “fragmentation, the loss of shared values and the difficulty of reconciling antagonistic forces are not the only organizational problems we deal with today. Leaders discover that the great systems over which they preside require continuous renewal.
“Values decay. The problems of today go unsolved while people mumble the slogans of yesterday. One sees organizations whose structure and processes are designed to solve problems that no longer exist. If regenerative forces are not at work, the end is predictable.”
This, I will venture, is the critical and unavoidable challenge we must address today.
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