Lent is quickly approaching. Rather than focusing on what you are going to give up and do, lets look at why you are going to do it? What is your motive? What is driving you?
Often people approach Lent with an attitude of seeing it as a time of gritting one’s teeth and surviving the 6 weeks of rigid disciplines. We give the same things up each Lent and rather than becoming stronger disciples we are back into our old life style within two months after Easter. What we learned and suffered through has been shelved. My challenge is why do you do the things you do and for whom do you do them for?
The purpose of Lenten devotions is not the self-torture of “giving something up” as it is to develop self-discipline and the establishment of good solid Christian virtues and values. If our faith is strong, it will lead to good works. Faith will drive our life in the ways of Jesus.
The Letter of James says: “faith by itself, if it has no works is dead.” (vs. 2:17) In verse 26 he says, “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.” The important thing his Letter points out is faith should drive our life and what we do and how we do it. Just as faith and reason go hand and hand, so does faith and life. They can’t be separated.
For the past 45 years, J. R. R. Tolkien’s writings have fascinated me. I have read and reread many of the books he wrote, or his son Christopher has had published from his father’s many filled notebooks. Tolkien was a very devout Catholic and took living his faith seriously. I have heard it said by some Tolkien fans that he did not write the “Lord of the Rings” or any of his other works with a Catholic, Christian, or faith-based meaning. If, they say, there is any spiritual connection it was by chance and not his intent. That is rubbish. He himself writes “The ‘Lord of the Rings’ is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.” (Page one of “Tolkien’s Faith: a Spiritual Biography”, Holly Ordway, Word On Fire Academic, Elk Grove Village, IL, 2023)
Faith permeated his whole life. He was so impregnated with his faith that the whole world of Middle-earth and everything in it, is rooted in and influenced by his Catholic faith and world view. This rootedness comes from his being formed, nourished, and from practicing His Catholic faith. Because his writings flow from this kind of faith environment, his works offer us opportunities to reflect upon life issues, God’s plans, and the part we play in God’s plans.
We will be using the fantasy worlds of Tolkien in the weeks ahead to journey inside our souls to gain a wider and deeper perspective of what drives our faith and how it can affect our lives.
For Reflection:
What strikes me about this text that can aid me in approaching Lent this year with a more positive outlook rather than just gritting my teeth and surviving? What am I going to do for Lent this year? Why am I going to do it? What is my motive? What is driving me to do it?
Prayer:
Holy Spirit, come and change my attitudes about self-denial and sacrifice. Give me Your help to make this Lent a truly life changing journey. Help me be honest with my internal reflections of why I do the things I do and who do I do them for. Perfect my faith that it will drive what I think, do, and say.
(blogged February 15, 2025)
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