Have a joyful Lent

Persons with a conscience watching current events in our fair land must be struck by the extent to which wrongdoing has taken hold of Jamaica: politicians going to great lengths to "protect the constitutional rights" of accused drug dealers and gunrunners, while children's rights are ignored; police personnel sworn to 'serve, protect and reassure' being accused of rape and extrajudicial killings and taking bribes; supposed honourable people collecting their salaries for years under false pretences, supported by their fellows; businessmen collecting favours in return for campaign contributions; the natural environment being despoiled under the guise of 'development'. Jamaica needs a wash-out, a catharsis, a cleansing.

And we, too, as we go about our daily lives, fall into bad habits (some would say sin): of not doing our best, of underperforming; of neglecting our duties as parents or children; of prejudice based on race or class; of systematic bias, of not being objective because of politics or religion; of supporting what we know to be wrong using the excuse of expediency; of chatting other people's business; of leading others astray; of not being all that we can be, and of leading others to be less than they could be. If we are honest, we will regret this sort of behaviour, and want to do better.

That is what the season of Lent is about - on the personal level - and, I propose, on the national level as well. The traditional scripture readings for Ash Wednesday and the first Sunday in Lent focus on the great temptations to which we humans are susceptible, and strategies for resisting them to ultimately be able to hold our heads high.

The three temptations of Jesus in the desert, where he was led after his baptism, model the temptations all baptised persons face in everyday life: temptations to be preoccupied with pleasure, wealth and power. Our natural bodily functions (eating, drinking, etc.) give us pleasure, which is normal and OK, but when our passions rule our bodies and our lives, we lose perspective and things get out of proportion. The Lenten discipline of fasting - of doing without that which we crave - helps us to discipline our bodies and our passions and bring some self-control back into our lives. It moves the centre of gravity upwards - towards our brains.

Created things are given to us for our use, but a preoccupation with material things - acquiring more and holding on to more - can distract us from being more and becoming more. The Lenten discipline of almsgiving gets us used to giving away what we have and need, to detach ourselves from possessions which can give us false identity and false security, so that we can concentrate on what is more important.

Perspective in prayer

All of us exercise power in some great or small way, and there is always the temptation to abuse it, to show off, to put down our enemies and to aggrandise ourselves and our friends and relatives. The Lenten discipline of prayer - placing oneself before the Almighty naked of pretence, admitting our powerlessness - can put things back into perspective, and help us enter into the virtue of humility.

We should be doing battle with negativity and our antisocial tendencies right throughout the year, but often we forget, and we get lazy, and we fall into bad habits. And so the Church gives us a special season when we are reminded that we have the potential to be more perfect than we have become, if only we would put our lives in order. During Lent, we get a chance to start over, to make a new beginning.

We can do battle with the forces of evil and win, if we become skilled in the relevant weapons of that war (fasting, etc.). The stories of Jesus' victory over temptation in the desert encourage us to try harder. He did not win because he was God (he is God, of course, lest anyone misunderstand me); he was sinless because he used well the same gift of free will that you and I have. Every time he was faced with a choice between good and evil, he had the courage and the strength to choose good.

There is great joy in doing battle with evil - and winning - and Lent is a wonderful religious season of great joy as we prepare ourselves to celebrate Jesus' saving actions on Mount Calvary and afterwards, when he finally conquered sin and evil and death. It is my wish for you and for Jamaica that we will conquer the evil in our midst, so that we can achieve our full potential.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and a Roman Catholic deacon. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.