Lent, Clean Water, and the Opportunity for Self-Denial
Lent is a time of self-denial, a chance to remember and identify with the sufferings of our Lord. It is also an opportunity to make do with less and in this way to identify also with all those who have so little, those with whom our Lord identified.
That gets increasingly more difficult – and simultaneously more important – in a word that seems to grow more materialistic by the day. It is challenging to watch the ads of television and across the media and not succumb to believing that we just can’t get buy without that new ______________ (fill in the blank).
In this light, Lent and its call to self-denial is a gift, an opportunity to wipe the culture-induced film from our eyes and see the blessings around us with greater clarity and gratitude and rededicate ourselves to helping all of God’s children enjoy lives of greater abundance.
But should we be struggling with this task or weighed down by a misplaced and often exaggerated sense of want, below is a video that reminds us powerfully and poignantly of the abundance we enjoy and the scarcity that so many others endure. And, just as importantly, it reminds us that we – all of us – can actually do something about it.
Notes: 1) If you are receiving this post by email, you many need to click here to play the video.
2) If you want to find out how you can help bring clean water to everyone, learn more at Water Is Life, the group that produced this video.
3) Thanks to Paul Rowland for sending me this link.
Always eye opening to realize you have actually said some of these things. Shame on me. Shame on us.
Thanks David.
I feel the shame too… Only I know that my frustrations – with downloads that take seconds, or a line at the convenience store or some such first world problem – are some what inevitable for they are where I am. But maybe these “instruments” of shame, like all divine epiphanies, will be turned on their heads? So I too can be transformed so that I grow in compassion and identification with people I might otherwise ignore or push away to save myself from truly suffering?