LENT SEASON. 

The last time you checked your social media, how often did you come across ads promoting a free trial of new products for a certain period? Whether it's for weight loss, listening to music or watching movies, all with no strings attached and a money-back guarantee if you don't like it? Lent has something in common with these ideas but without the catch!
 
The origins of Lent go back to the period of the early church when catechumens (people who were beginning the process of formation in the Christian faith) had a period to learn more about the faith and freely choose to adhere to the life project proposed by the way of Jesus Christ. This practice became so popular that gradually the whole church decided to adopt it as a universal process, increasingly integrating it with the three pillars of the Christian way of life: fasting (relationship with oneself), almsgiving (relationship with others) and prayer (relationship with God). These three practices, proposed by Lent, are exercises that should be extended throughout the year, good habits that improve our relationship with ourselves, with our neighbor and with God.
 
In the texts describing the beginnings of the covenant of God with the Hebrew people, we hear about the exodus, the departure from Egypt, and the liberation from a dynamic in which the people's freedom was deeply compromised. They couldn't choose how to lead their own lives, they were disrespected in their choices: they couldn't choose to welcome the children sent by God, what rest time was necessary for each one, ask for fair treatment, or even worship their own God, which profoundly affected their identity and relationships with each other, with those in power and with their own faith. This process of leaving a situation of slavery was a profound change in their lifestyle and led them to a new individual and group dynamic. According to the biblical account, it took 40 years to develop new skills to live fully free in this new reality.
 
In today's world, there are still "pharaohs" who, with their war machines, their financial power, their political domination or their cultural influence, enslave this generation, instead of offering emancipation, free choice with spiritual, emotional, communitarian, cultural, social and political growth. As Christians, we are invited to free ourselves from inner slavery and also to stand up against new forms of slavery. During these 40 days, we start  the processes of inner liberation and getting involved so our brothers and sisters are also liberated, and that once free, we can each one choose freely to love and serve.
 
This is Lent: 40 days to try out this experience for free, which is better than any music, video, game or exercise platform, because, in this process that has existed for centuries in Christianity, we can "test" our place in the Christian faith and go deeper and deeper, investing not only in our inner life, in the reality around us at present, but also in in the best possible long-term asset: the eternal joy that begins right here in this life!
 
Happy Lent.