In the Month of February, we are blessed with many special days; among others we have the day of “consecrated life”. Consecrated life refers to a lifestyle of individuals who voluntarily opt among other things to stand before God and appease Him in His justice on their own behalf and on behalf of others. Thus invoking grace upon grace on an individual’s and entire humanity. We also have a day of social justice where we evaluate personal actions and interactions in terms of social arena. Some silent questions that linger in the mind include: “am I fair and just in my actions and interactions?”, “Does my conscience convict me or is it clear enough in my relationship with others and with God? Do I have something to offer to the society in terms of skills, opinion, standing for the right course and ready to share my time for moral support? Above all we have the Lent period; which commences with Ash Wednesday. It is a period where all Christians; big or small, tall or short, educated or illiterate, leader or subordinate take stock and account of their thoughts, words and deeds from horizontal to vertical relationships.
That is man to man and man to God relationships. In Uganda and elsewhere in the world, the media relays a lot of challenging themes on violence, corruption, war, disaster, sexual scandals of child abuse, marital infidelity, human sacrifice and the like. All these amounts to social sin that calls for serious repentance and the time is now! As members of the mystical body of Christ we can be influenced or influence others negatively or positively. We can be affected positively socially when we live in a state of grace by living in communion with God and neighbor. Grace like water waves or current spreads its influence far and wide like wise man or woman in a state of grace has positive influence on others and the entire society. On the other hand, when an individual is not in a state of grace; he or she can contaminate or negatively affect the entire society. Unrepentant sinner causes social problems like peer influence, rape, deceit, organized crimes from local to international levels; giving rise to human trafficking, cults, sects. With a consequential volatile society; characterized by conflicts, disharmony, retaliation, instability and loss of faith. Such entirely negative trait has led many people to act contrary to the Gospel values.
With such a background,there is urgent need to embrace Lent heartily so as to getreconnected such as to receive God’s grace which is less abounding in our land and world today. In order to combat social evil, “I” have to start, I proceed to influence some individuals into groups and then later on the nation or society is positively influenced. I should not wait for “someone” for someone may be no one! It is often risky to make such moves, for instance; we take the recent example of Malala Yousafzai 14, who challenged the Taliban injustice against girls’ education. She sustained head injuries in an attempt to stand for justice. Nelson Mandela lived behind bars and remained in prison for 27 year before he could live to see South Africa free of the apartheid regime. His big vision was confined to a small cell but he patiently endured all the odds with the hope of seeing a free South Africa. Similarly Jesus above all had to under go social, physical and psychological torture and was crucified for the course of right before we could see a glimpse of love, justice and peace done on earth. He challenges His followers to walk on His footsteps: live to let go for the sake of others.
During Lent as God calls us to repentance and prayer, it does not mean that we should point fingers at those whom we consider to be the worst sinners. Like Jesus, we should stoop down to assume their condition as we pray for them. So that their sin does not continue to have a negative impact on us and the entire society. In this way, we would have proved our Christian identity to the world around us. On the other hand, care shall be taken to avoid selfrighteousness like the elder son (Lk. 15: 28-30). The true repentance is that which comes outwards from the heart and gives nourishment to the society. There are some experiences where someone makes a lot of external fuss to attract attention yet interiorly this means nothing. Joel 2:12- 13 calls us to true repentance; going back to God with all our hearts: fasting, weeping and mourning for the sins against corruption, murder, lies, theft, human sacrifice, hatred, nepotism, sectarianism which has wounded many nations and our own nation. As we long for peace, let us seek peaceful means and sources from the heart.
For we shall reap what we sow! If you sow love, you can reap love even in the gloom. The reverse is true. Prophet Joel tells us to tear the heart so as to rid it from breeding vices but not clothes as some people do. In all these events, we are called to remain hopeful like true Christians rooted in faith, overcome by no challenge but growing from glory to glory. For a hopeful Christian, there is light at the end of the tunnel. He is like the sun that overcomes the stars by day. We beg God to grant us special grace during this period of Lent so as to make the best use of it and bear fruit that will last in our own lives, in our families, communities, regions, nations and the whole world. Have a fruitful Lent!