I used to think it a painful paradox that gloomy old Lent
happened just as the almond trees came into bloom, followed by the forsythias,
the daffodils, the plum tree, the daisies, the buttercups and all the whole
décor of spring. Just as we were all getting over winter and feeling sort of
festive, we were told to repent, spiritually at least to put on sackcloth and
ashes, to abstain from anything pleasurable or tasty, for forty bloody long
days until Easter. One put up with it, one did one’s best, but it was hard to
go along with it with any real enthusiasm.
To my surprise, this year is different. Perhaps because of a
change of tone in the Church’s teachings on the subject, perhaps because I’ve
gone more deeply into the spiritual aspects of it, and perhaps also because
I’ve decided to do for, and in, Lent what I would previously have done
separately: take care of Brother Ass, as St Francis called our bothersome
physical body, at the same time as increasing reading and prayer. As our local
priest put it, a thorough spring cleaning.
And to my surprise, as I said, it has so far made for a
different Lent. I feel in no way out of tune with Nature; doing (or omitting)
some of the things one should have seen to ages ago is cheering; as every
old-fashioned housewife knew and knows, spring cleaning is not only useful, it
gives a lift to the spirit. I don’t think I’m up to serious fasting, but doing
without alcohol and meat is, for an old whisky-dramming carnivore, a real
change of speed. It turns out not be particularly hard, and has some pleasant
if in no way spiritual side-effects.
I write this here because it may help someone who still
thinks of Lent as a gloomy guilt-trip. I do have to remind myself daily of the
Cross, and to make some kind of act of contrition, but that fits in perfectly
because it was always already there and makes sense. Meanwhile, I glory in the
spring around me, in the Southern French countryside where it is the most
perfect season of the year; I give thanks for so much beauty, and I praise God
for suggesting a spring cleaning to put me into better harmony with His
creation.
