Fr John Kadookunnel

Christmas and Easter are two main feasts of Christian life. Christmas occurs in winter when there is less daylight than in summer. Thus in the Latin rite, the readings and prayers during advent and Christmas recall the theme of Christ as Light of the World during this time. The word Lent means “springtime.” Lent and Easter occur in the spring when nature wakes up from its slumber; flowers and animals begin to exhibit life after a long hibernation of winter. Thus the theme of Lent and Easter is Christ as Life of the World, especially after Resurrection of the Lord from the dead.

Don’t forget the doing part
The Sermon on the Mount in general or the Beatitudes in particular is often referred to as the Magna Carta of Christianity that gives an outline of the Christian life. The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 emphasizes the right approach to the three main practices of Christian life viz. almsgiving, prayer and fasting. The Church says that we ought to practise these three Lenten traditions during the time of Lent.The three great practices of Lent are things you do. In recent times, we have focused too much on the interior aspects of Lent—that Lent is all about inner attitudes and dispositions. However the Church has always maintained that man is a unity of body and soul. So Lent is about doing things that involve both the body and mind, and involve both the exterior and the interior: “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2).

Do we really need to “hear everything about everyone”?
In order to do these things, first we need to have the courage to periodically plug ourselves off from the numero uno distraction of today’s life—the internet.“We live in an environment polluted by too much verbal violence, by many offensive and harmful words, which the internet amplifies,” Pope Francis said in his Lenten message of 2020. “We are inundated with empty words, with advertisements, with subtle messages. We have become used to hearing everything about everyone and we risk slipping into a worldliness that atrophies our hearts.” The Pope has nailed it by using the expression “hearing everything about everyone” as an accurate description about the state of affairs about the internet today.

Ex-google employee: Tech Is ‘Downgrading Humans’:
Not Just the Pope, even the secular world recognizes that internet is making the world “more distracted.” Ex-google employee Tristan Harris says that essentially, addictive technology has manipulated our emotions to the point where we are less functional. The catch-phrase “Downgrading humans” is the one he came up with that sums up all the ills of the internet: “a downgrading of our relationships, a downgrading of our attention, a downgrading of democracy, a downgrading of our sense of decency.” As a result of his relentless campaigns in the media and meetings with the American Congress, companies like Facebook and Google have rolled out features to try to help people limit their addictions to their screens.

The Pope’s digital detox program during Lent
The Pope who said in 2014 that internet is “something truly good, a gift from God,” does not discount the good that comes from the internet. However, we are so overwhelmed by the digital noise that we are unable to distinguish the voice of the Lord who speaks to us, the voice of the conscience, and the voice of good, the Pope says. More than any voices in the secular world, it is Pope Francis who offers the most specific and radical detox program to weed out digital distraction. The Pope asks us to read the Bible. “Lent is the right time to make room for the Word of God. It is the time to turn off the television and open the Bible. It is the time to disconnect from your cell phone and connect to the Gospel.”

Lent is a time to return to the Word of God. Creation is God’s first book. St Augustine using one of his clever word plays says: “the universe was written by God as a book; the Scripture was made by God as a universe.” Let this Lent be a time of upgrading of our humanity by first listening to the Word both in the creation (yes, that includes the tech world too) and in the Bible. Doing follows listening: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only…” (James 1:22).