What to Pack for Our Journey Through Lent?

In the old days, before Smart Phones and GPS technology, it was almost obligatory to stop by AAA to get a customized map called a “Triptik” if you were planning to travel. The person preparing your guide would ask if you wanted the most direct way, or perhaps a more scenic route. Recent construction areas, temporary road closures, and even speed traps were notated according to the traveler’s preferences. These days, it takes a few clicks or verbal commands on your phone to get you on your way. What if such a service, high or low tech, were available for the journey we take during Lent, and would such a guide help or hinder our spiritual growth?

Preparing for Lent

Preparing for the forty-day journey of Lent, in theory, should not be that involved. Since the goal of the sojourn is to travel with as little baggage as possible, and to follow the Holy Spirit’s lead to the best of our ability, charting a precise course would seem unnecessary. To quote a commercial from Greyhound Bus, also from the old days, “Leave the driving to us” could be a sure motto for trusting the Blessed Trinity for guidance.

Making a detailed itinerary and setting goals comes naturally to most of us as we traverse time and space throughout our lives. Lent offers us an opportunity to take a back seat and allow God to provide “seed for the sower” as a provision for all our needs. The “skeleton” or outline of our time in the desert should be worked out in a way that leaves as much room as possible for God to provide. The pericope below explains how Jesus instructed his disciples regarding a journey they were about to undertake:

Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts; no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick. The laborer deserves his keep. Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. As you enter a house, wish it peace. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you. (Matthew 10:9-13)

Jesus’ Encounter with Satan

When Jesus embarked on His own journey through the desert, he fasted from all but the essentials to stay alive and relied on the Father’s providence to accomplish the preparation necessary to embark on his public ministry. The season of Lent in the Church is patterned after the forty days Jesus spent in the desert and has relied on scripture to inform us as to how he dealt with the suffering and temptation that ensued. The following scene shows Jesus encountering the devil himself and how he responded to the tempter:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” He said in reply, “It is written: ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’ Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you’ and ‘with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’ Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written: ‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.’” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him. (Matthew 4:1-11)

It is important to note that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil, not so much to be tempted, but to be delivered from evil. In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray for such deliverance. May the angels minister to us as we journey through the desert of Lent this year.