Isn’t it time we questioned some of the assumptions we have about Lent?

 

Chief among these is the idea that it is a season of repression, rather than of repentance.

 

Repression is the wrong sort of self denial. It is about avoidance, rather than facing up to the truth about ourselves and being prepared to change. A repressed person is one who buries those aspects of themselves of which they are ashamed, or who represses the good in themselves as a result of earlier conditioning by others, parents, a school bully or a partner, to name only a few.

 

Repentance is about daring to accept ourselves as we are, and as we could yet become, and not judging or avoiding that person.

 

Lent is a time for daring to live.