Our mission in life: try to be good, and help others … it prevents future sadness and depression
First Sunday of Lent – March 9, 2025
LENT usually has a bad reputation! Do you know that we should restart our computers regularly so they reset and run faster? Computers are complex, software is not perfect, and memory ‘jams’ cause the computer to ‘go slow.’ Our WiFi/ fibre router devices too need a reset: the internet slows due to memory jams. Just as a computer clears its memory and returns to the clean state it was when purchased, so Lent helps us reset our ways of thinking, acting and even our eating and drinking. So, let us see Lent as a gift.
Lent is a time of sacrifice and fasting, or thinking about our bad habits or about the ways I am not an active Christian: that is, I try not to do anything wrong, but I don’t really look for ways to help others. Lent is also a time identify issues that may lead us into danger.
One of Aesop’s Fables helps us see the importance of Lent for us: It happened that a farmer was sowing some hemp seeds in a field where a Swallow and some other birds were hopping about picking up their food. ‘Beware of that man,’ said the Swallow. ‘Why, what is he doing?’ said the others. ‘That is hemp seed he is sowing; be careful to pick up every one of the seeds, or else you will regret it.’ The birds paid no heed to the Swallow’s words, and by and by the hemp grew up and was made into rope, and of the rope nets were made, and many a bird that had rejected the Swallow’s advice was caught in nets made out of that same hemp. ‘What did I tell you?’ said the Swallow. Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to be your ruin.
Temptation implies a struggle between right and wrong: some are subtle while are some are urged upon us by ‘friends’ or situations. In the Gospel Jesus is tempted with the three categories of temptations that we all face, and not just during Lent:
1) material goods/ pleasure;
2) desire for Power (security);
3) to make ourselves God (to feel more important than others).
One of the main reasons we struggle during Lent to make sacrifices, or be faithful to them, is that drinking, eating and distracting ourselves with social media, TV, movies, etc., helps to distract us from the loneliness many people feel. Silence can be quite challenging.
Seriously speaking, friendships are a key way to help people have better mental health and reduce sinful/ negative behaviour. When happier in ourselves, we become more generous. In the following, I’ve included a snapshot of friendship in wealthy countries. Perhaps it’s less true in poorer countries due to the greater inter-dependence people have (they need each other). However, 1 in 4 Kenyans are reported to suffer depression.
“Unlike our ancestors who knew everyone in their tribe, most people now live in cities where the default is anonymity. As children and young adults, school may provide a social community. Indeed, the number of friends people have peaks around age 25, but then substantially drops around age 30, when work and the nuclear family take over. The last decade has seen a startling further fall in the number and quality of friendships.”
“First, we have fewer close friends. According to the May 2021 American Perspectives Survey of over 2,000 adults, 12% of Americans report having no friends, up from … 3% in the 1990’s. …in the UK, the number of young adults …having only one or no close friends jumped from 7% to nearly 20% between 2012 and 2021. These numbers are even worse for men, who tend to have more friends early in life but experience a steeper decline.” bigthink.com/neuropsych/americans-no-friends/
The report also mentioned how we tend to spend less time with the few friends we have. So, this Lent I invite us to look at our friendships and see what we can do to strengthen them. Instead of just giving up chocolate or beer, let us commit ourselves to visit our friends more often and consciously see how we might assist or encourage them: physical contact is vital! As we strengthen our friendships, we increase our feelings of intimacy and sense of being loved (hopefully not frustration!). And the more loved we feel, the less interested we are in bad temptations, AND we develop a greater sense of generosity for others.
As we reflect on the capacity of Jesus to resist the temptations He faced, we are able to learn that which gives us the necessary strength and the discipline to say no to bad temptations: We need a sense of mission in our lives. Our Second Reading, emphasises the gift of unity. In a secular sense, we can also confirm this: when staff feel valued and needed in an organisation (unity), they give more hours and better quality work than if they are poorly treated (disunity): they feel a purpose in life and look forward to success.
And this is our mission in life: trying to be good, and helping others. The Lenten discipline, when done seriously and consistently, is like a runner training at high-altitude: so that running at low-altitude becomes easier and faster. Lent is the gift each year that challenges us to reset our lives and our vision to achieve that mission: and we avoid future depression and sadness!
By Gerard Conlan, OMI
