Caritas Sri Lanka - SEDEC

SEASON OF LENT 2012

Message of Rev Fr George Sigamoney, National Director of Caritas Sri Lanka SEDEC.

The Season of Lent is a call to follow Christ’s austerities.

Austerity is the necessary first step towards attaining blessedness. It is a measure of personal and spiritual discipline, in appearance, manner and attitude. Austerity is a conscious effort toward a modest and unassuming lifestyle.

Lent is also a season that reminds us of Jesus’ words: “Let those who would follow me deny themselves”. Jesus tells those who want to come after him to deny themselves. This means that they are to forsake their worldly desires and ambitions. The “ I want”, “ I will” and “ I shall” need to be denied. It’s a total self-denial. It’s saying NO to self and saying YES to God. It is saying NO to selfish interests and earthly securities.  Each one of us is called to totally crucify himself to the world and its ways and yield to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over him.

Archbishop Oscar Romero has said: “ The only violence we have preached is the violence of love which left Christ nailed to the cross, the violence that we must each do to ourselves to overcome our selfishness. We must kill in our hearts the outburst of greed, of avarice, of conceit, of arrogance. This is what must be killed,  this is the violence that must be done, so that out of it a new person may arise, the only one who can build a new civilization, a civilization of love”.

These words remind us of our own past history and invite us to awaken to our Christian responsibility. The 30 years of war in this country only gave us hatred, violence and revenge. By this, we were pushed back from the values we had held sacred – understanding, love, tolerance, compassion, humaneness, holiness and personal sanctity. The victory of war has reigned supreme in recent years, with some emerging victors and leaving others defeated, deprived and marginalized. For the victor, peace means the preservation of the position of power he has secured. For the vanquished, it means resigning himself to the position left to him. It is easier for the victor, than for the vanquished, to advocate peace. The universal truth is that in war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners,  but all are losers.

Yet, in Christ, we are all one, even the victor and the vanquished. It is in a gesture of forgiveness and reconciliation that this unity is achieved. If reconciliation is to be real and permanent, then it must lead people to boundless self-sacrifice. This beautiful season of Lent invites all of us to reconcile with God and with our brothers and sisters. It calls for a new heart and it calls us to put aside our differences and our inequalities.

May true reconciliation lead us all toward true unity!