While we may typically only associate Lent with various sacrifices and the eating of fish on Fridays, there is much more to the season than meets the eye.
In fact, one aspect of Lent that we may miss is its deep connection to the sacrament of Baptism.
This is only heightened for those preparing to be baptized at the Easter Vigil, as the season of Lent marks the final stage of preparation for the sacrament.
At the same time Lent can also remind those who have already been baptized of their duties and the need for interior renewal.
Lent and Baptism
Pope Benedict XVI commented on this spiritual symbolism during a general audience in 2011:
The Sundays of Lent...introduce us to the experience of a baptismal journey, almost as if we were retracing the path of the catechumens, of those who are preparing to receive Baptism, in order to rekindle this gift within us and to ensure that our life may recover a sense of the demands and commitments of this sacrament which is at the root of our Christian life.
He explains how each Sunday is connected to a different aspect of Baptism.
For example, the First Sunday of Lent recalls how we must all reject and renounce Satan before getting baptized:
The First Sunday of Lent, known as the “Sunday of the Temptation” because it presents Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness, invites us to renew our definitive adherence to God and, in order to remain faithful to him, to face courageously the struggle that awaits us.
Pope Benedict XVI describes how each of the following Sundays correspond to the mystery of Baptism and the various symbols that surround it:
On the following Sundays, Baptism is presented in images of water, light and life. The Third Sunday makes us meet the Samaritan woman (cf. Jn 4:5-42). Like Israel in the Exodus, in Baptism we too have received the water that saves; Jesus, as the Samaritan woman says, has living water that quenches all thirst; and this water is the Spirit himself. On this Sunday the Church celebrates the First Scrutiny of the catechumens and during the week presents to them the Creed: the profession of faith.
As the season of Lent unfolds, try to pay more attention to the readings at Mass and see if you can recognize the connection between Lent and Baptism.
Even if you are not preparing for your own Baptism, it is still important to prepare ourselves to renew our baptismal promises.
While we tend to only focus on Lent being a season of death and dying to self, it is more of a season focused on renewal and rebirth.
God invites us to die to the world, so that we can be reborn as a child of God. Lent is about new life and not simply death.
