The poet T.S. Eliot began his famous poem The Waste Land with the introductory phrase: “April is the cruellest month,” as he reflected on the destructive ravages of the First World War and how they could connect to the changes that each season offered.
I would now have to take exception to his opinion regarding April, because February has been an exceptionally cruel month over the past several years. In 2020, the worldwide pandemic first began to appear in February. In 2021 an unusual major snowstorm killed more than 200 people in the U.S. Southwest. And in 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. All occurring in February. Now the disastrous earthquakes that have struck Turkey and Syria have given February yet another sad memorial. No, T.S Eliot’s observation regarding April might not be as accurate as he first had suggested.
February is also the month when we begin Lent this year. This season of transformation is an annual invitation for each of us to accept God’s appeal for our conversion and spiritual growth. Like the earth that undergoes a yearly renewal and brings forth new life, so we are invited to a regeneration of heart, mind and soul during this holy season. Lent should not be viewed as an unhappy time, but as a season of hope. As we embark upon our Lenten practices, we should do so with the anticipation that God will do something wonderful with and for us during these weeks of prayer, fasting and charity.
Considering the countless media reports that describe all of the recent tragic events in our world, we might not always understand how God is still calling us toward Himself. Even those latest February events that have cast such a horrible shroud over our world can also be opportunities for us to respond in charity and compassion to the needs that confront us. Our people have been and continue to be amazingly generous in offering support and aid to our sisters and brothers in Ukraine, Turkey and Syria. Even the pandemic itself has brought forth innumerable creative responses in the medical, scientific and social reactions to these viruses. Natural disasters have ushered in the best in so many people as numerous international stories of compassion and kindness have demonstrated.
This Lent, let us begin with very hopeful hearts trusting that God can bring out the best in us as we pray, fast, and respond charitably to the events around us and to the people who continue to need us. Recently the month of February has provided us with more than a few disastrous episodes. May we all discover a newness of heart and hope this Lent which will surprisingly end in the month of April and with Jesus’s triumphant victory over even death itself.
