“If you want something you never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.”
Unknown Author
Scarcity of want is impossible! Humanity, from time immemorial, has desired so many things ranging from what one needs to what one wants, and from the mundane to the ephemeral. However, knowing what one wants is the beginning of finding it with the attendant solace attached to having it. It is apposite, therefore, to inquire as to what modern man wants; because, unlike the early man who just wanted food, clothing and shelter, modern man has moved beyond the basic human wants.
This insatiable desire of modern man has thus far led us where humanity is at a crossroad. Tell a man “We need to see” or “I will tell you something when next we see”, et al, and he becomes disturbed, agitated, perturbed, worried, concern and sometimes unreasonably unstable. He just wants you to tell him immediately what you intended keeping till the next meeting. The element of surprise no longer holds water in and around us anymore. Where is our humanity?
Today, the Holy Mother Church asks all her children to commence the ‘40-Day Journeying with the Lord’; fasting, praying and doing charitable works. Every year, the Church calls on her children to recall their humanity with ashes (made out of our palm fronds from the Palm Sunday of the previous year) imposed on our foreheads to remind us that: “You are dust, and unto dust you shall return”; even, as she asks us to return to the Lord: “Repent and believe the Gospel”.
In his 2024 Message for Lent, titled “Through the Desert God Leads us to Freedom”, His Holiness, Pope Francis, brings us hope out of the present myriads of malaise and quagmire our beloved Nigeria is embroiled in. Despite the ceaseless skyrocketing prices of foodstuff and commodities in the markets, with attendant hysteria resulting from kidnappings and killings on a daily-constant basis; His Holiness invites us to “open our eyes to reality” if our Lenten observances is to be meaningful this year.
Recalling God’s call of Moses in the burning bush (Ex 3: 7-8), Pope Francis asks us to examine our consciences, to look deep into ourselves if our humanity still desires good and offers same to our neighbours. “Today too, the cry of so many of our oppressed brothers and sisters rises to heaven. Let us ask ourselves: Do we hear that cry? Does it trouble us? Does it move us? All too many things keep us apart from each other, denying the fraternity that, from the beginning, binds us to one another” (Message of His Holiness, Pope Francis for Lent 2024).
In the Gospel of Mark, a Leper approached Jesus and asked to be cleansed if Jesus wants to. “Moved with pity, He stretched out His hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean” (Mk 1:41)”. Pope Francis reminds us that, our God is the One Who brings freedom to His People, even when they would not ask for it: “In the Exodus account, there is a significant detail: it is God who sees, is moved and brings freedom; Israel does not ask for this” (ibid.).
“The globalisation of indifference makes us all “unnamed,” leaders without names and without faces” (Pope Francis, sermon at an open-air Mass during his visit to Lampedusa, Monday, 8th July, 2023). Opening our eyes to reality, therefore, means for us to leave behind the globalisation of indifference which makes us turn lackadaisical towards the sufferings and pains of our brothers and sisters. “It is time to act, and in Lent, to act also means to pause. To pause in prayer, in order to receive the word of God, to pause like the Samaritan in the presence of a wounded brother or sister” (Message of His Holiness, Pope Francis for Lent 2024).
It is imperative, then, to understand that the Lenten Season offers us another opportunity to return to Bethel, our place of encounter (Gen 35:1). It affords us the opportunity to turn the globalisation of indifference into the globalisation of care and affection for our needy brothers and sisters. Like Jesus, let us reach out to those needy members of our families, communities and environs, and let them feel the touch of God through us: ‘I want to share this gift with you.’ ‘I want you to have this for your self and your family.’ ‘I want you to be happy always.’
A quick reminder for all Catholics: Penance: “The days and times of penance for the Universal Church are each Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.” Abstinence: “Abstinence from meat, or other food as determined by the Bishops’ Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a Solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.”
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