Do you love Lent? Some people do. It’s an opportunity to be more intentional in prayer, to take control of our appetites, and be more focused on the Lord. But not everybody is a Lent lover. In fact, Catholic speaker Katie Prejean McGrady recently wrote an article for the The Boston Pilot listing all the reasons she hates Lent. But, she pointed out that perhaps that is exactly why she needs Lent in her life.
Katie recently stopped by Morning Air® to discuss the inconvenience of Lent, and why that inconvenience makes it such a special time of the year.
On why Lent is inconvenient for her, Katie said, “I think it’s inconvenient for everybody, and I’m just saying what everybody thinks. I gave up coffee, or I gave up Netflix, or I gave up social media, and these are things that I’m used to. So now that I can have them, it’s inconvenient.”
If Lent was about depriving ourselves simply for the sake of deprivation, then of course we should hate it. But when we take these moments of sacrifice and unite them to Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, these deprivations take on a whole new meaning. And although she doesn’t like it, Katie pointed out that it is precisely the inconvenience of Lent that draws us to contemplate the sufferings that Christ endured for our salvation.
“Lent kind of disrupts us and allows us to focus in a new way,” she said. “And so, that gives us all this incredible opportunity. … Every time there is a moment in Lent where we are inconvenienced, or we’re reminded that I can’t have that, or I’m supposed to do this, we’re brought back to Calvary. We’re brought back to the inconvenience of the Stations of the Cross. We’re brought back to the inconvenience of Christ dying on the Cross and how, if he can do that, I can do this.”
“That really is what Lent is about. I’m giving something up so that I recognize that Christ is more important. I’m praying more because I recognize that I need to talk to Christ. I’m giving something because he gave something. … It’s very simple and a very wise thing that the church has given us. And so I can hate it. But at the same time, I also kind of love it. And I think that’s kind of the beauty of it.”
Listen to the full conversation below:
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