Hi Fran:

During my time of seeking, which involved fasting and meditation, I felt quite elated.

So how about ecstatic Lent, rapturous Lent, transformative Lent or transcendental Lent?

Have a transcendental Lent!

-Arminius

Transformative Lent, I could deal with . I think being elated, having fasted and meditated, is somewhat different. I like to think that as Jesus came out of the desert, having fasted and meditated, and wrestled with his personal demons, he was also elated.

But Happy Lent????

You too - have a transcendental and transformative Lent.

Fran

Hi Fran,

Another cruise, another picture! 

I think transformative Lent descibes the Lent  experience best. The "elation" that follows fasting and meditating could be interpreted medically - and not necessarily spiritually.

Right on Fran - I hope it was not a UCC school - of course it was - transforming lent says it all.

No, Fran, not "Happy Lent!" I've seen people emerge from a Vision Quest, bedraggled, unkempt, famished and exhausted, with dark circles around their eyes, but with the fire of the Spirit in their eyes that is beyond happiness.

Such ecstasy is hard-fought and hard-won. To call it happiness is to belittle it, and to call them happy is almost insulting.

I am a church musician in 2 denominations (Lutheran & Anglican) in a sparsely populated rural area.  Interestingly enough, it seems that my Lenten discipline has been enhanced for this year by providing music for yet another congregation, as I help my friends and neighbours worship at the local Catholic Church.  The women who asked me to be their pianist for the Lenten season were incredibly apologetic, because they know how busy life gets for me during the high holy seasons with all the myriad of church music; I played for 6 services in a 20 hour span on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  But, the ladies felt compelled to request my assistance for a very special reason.

In keeping with what Franota mentioned about the origins of Lent being the time of preparation for adults seeking baptism, for the first time in decades, the Catholic Church will be baptising an entire adult family (seven people) at this year's Easter Vigil.  This particular family has endured myriad & unimaginable suffering over the past few years, and the act of baptism at Easter is a metaphoric symbol of their hope for emotional and spiritual resurrection. 

Because this is a small geographic region, the plight of this poor family is common knowledge. 

Because of my own previous interaction with this family in the midst of tragic circumstances, I am honoured to provide the 'soundtrack' for a poignant milestone in their healing.

On Sunday, when I played for Mass for the First Sunday in Lent, Father Michael talked about how Lent is typically (and erroneously) viewed as a season of sacrifice and personal angst. However, this year, Lent is a season of hope in the lives of the family members preparing for Baptism.  Franota's ears must have been burning Sunday afternoon at 4:30 PM CST, because Father Michael mentioned the greetings for a 'Happy Lent' on the Facebook site! 

He discussed how we really want to immediately and effusively share our wishes for some well-deserved happiness for this family; we all may want to rush forward to wish them a 'Happy Lent'.  After all, for this family, their hard-earned hope is something to celebrate.  Father Michael of cautioned us to wait until Easter to share our wishes for happiness; instead, he extolled us to share our warmest hopes for a 'Good' Lent with this family and one another. 

As someone who has born witness to the heart-breaking anguish and dark nights of the soul endured by this family, I am overcome with an emotion akin to delight in walking alongside these lovely people on a journey with a destination awash in warmth and hope.  I almost want to give them a hug and wish them a 'Happy Lent', because if anyone deserves a 'Happy' Lent, this family would receive my nomination.

In my humble opinion, wishing anyone a 'Happy Lent' is equivalent to giving hearty wishes to a pregnant woman for a dangerously premature labour and delivery, fraught with complications, topped with the garnish of fetal distress.

To refer to this family's final hours of birthing after such a harrowing 'pregnancy' as 'happy' would be cruel; to hasten the delivery date in an effort to expediate my desire for their happiness would be cruel.  The final weeks of pregnancy are important for a baby's well-being.

  For a woman who suffers the anxiety stemming from complications of labour & delivery, those final moments before the appearance of the baby are anything BUT happy.  The uncertainty of not knowing whether the baby will arrive unharmed, or even alive, is excruciating; it is a struggle to hold out hope after the experience of pregnancy and the prognosis for the baby have been so heart-breaking.  No, the birthing hours in this type of case are not 'happy', the hours of pain and emotional anguish simply must be endured, and if possible, tempered with even the tiniest amount of hope.  Even in cases where it is definitively known that the baby will be stillborn, the hope is crucial, even if the mother's only aspiration is relief from the physical pain of labour.

So it is for the Baptismal Candidates at the Catholic Church two doors down from my house.  They've been through multiple miscarriages, and now they are preparing for a complicated labour and delivery after a tumultous spiritual pregnancy.  More than anything, they long for a happy, healthy baby, bristling with life, but they've been burned a few too many times.  They are scared to set their hopes too high, but a timid flame of hope remains nonetheless.  They don't know what to hope for.  Lent simply does not qualify as a banal exuberant, 'happy' time for this family; they've been through too much to feel any superfluous merriment.  They aren't counting their proverbial (Easter) eggs until they're hatched.  They need these weeks of Lent to nurture the seed of hope that is planted in them, so that when Easter comes, they'll be ready for the joy of resurrection.

I need to wish this family (and indeed, ALL of my loved ones) a  'Good Lent', a season filled with gestational development of hope, transcendence, and a peaceful, new season of life.

Amen.

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This note and the references to pregnancy and stillbirth are written in memory of my only nephew, my only sister's only child who was born without ever taking a breath on Thanksgiving Sunday 1994.  After proofreading this post, I wrote about Lent being the gestational season for hope, I realized a poignant irony:  Heart-broken and devestated, my sister hadn't chosen a boy's name for her baby to transcribe onto the death certificate.  Through a veil of tears, she simply identified the baby boy as 'Hope'.

Hi DIVA:

Thanks for your long and heartwrenching post,

and a HAPPY EASTER,

HAPPY BAPTISM, and a

JOYOUS SPIRITUAL RE-BIRTH

to your family of seven at their Easter baptism. 

Hey Arminius,

Ugh, I know my posts are WAY too long.... thanks for slugging through it.  And thank you for your kind wishes.

I'm curious, what do you think about my belief that Lent is the gestational period of hope?

Thanks for your reply, Arminius.

YOUR CHURCH MUSIC IN HIGH HEELS

D1VA

I'm not Arminius (grin) but I like it. Just as Advent is a gestational period for hope, so Lent can be as well. But I think there is a vast difference between the kind of hope and joy you described, and the rather trite "happy Lent".

I also read your whole post - and thank you for it. I am always rather awed by some of the responses a simply blog evokes. Thank you.

Fran

Yes, CHURCH DIVA IN HIGH HEELS, both Advent and Lent are gestational periods, the former leading to a spiritual birth, the latter to a spiritual re-birth that is even more profound than the former.

A year ago, when Easter fell on the Spring Equinox, it was a doubly sacred event for me, beause my most profound spiritual Awakening occured on the Eve of the Spring Equinox.

Wow, Arminius, last year's Easter really must have been poignant for you.  Those sorts of milestones bring a quiet beauty into our lives.

Fran, just to clarify, I do agree using 'happy' Lent as a greeting is entirely inappropriate.  I'd say, "I hope you have a good Lent" or "Have a Blessed Lent", if I even had the urge to create a Hallmark card to distribute for the season of Lent.  In my humble opinion, wishing anyone a 'Happy Lent' is equivalent to giving hearty wishes to a pregnant woman for a dangerously premature labour and delivery, fraught with complications, topped with the garnish of fetal distress. 

We need these weeks of pregnancy to fully grow our hope, so that we can give birth to healthy, mature joy.

During Lent, we are gestating hope in anticipation of the happy, joyous celebration of Easter.  Advent is also a gestational season of hope, awaiting the birth of innocence; Lent is the season where we are pregnant with the hope of second chances.  After suffering through losses and death of our emotions, we  welcome the chance to heal and live again.  We need to fully grow our hope so that we can fully appreciate the joy of re birth.

Absolutely - and you say it so much better than I! Love your posts....

I am just waiting for a phone call from Winnipeg, from my best friend whose husband has been struggling with cancer for over three years. He is finally going, and I will be hopping a plane as soon as I hear.

What makes this so painful is that her first husband was unfaithful, and she was devastated. It took years for her to find someone who would cherish and love her. They have been married just five years. In this Lent season, Happy Lent would be an insult to her pain and her journey through this wilderness. But wishing that Lent might be a time for her to have hope in faith, with the joy of resurrection and new life - that is so much more.

Hi Fran:

We Christians are fortunate inasmuch as the most powerful metaphor and message of our religion is that even death can be overcome by faith.

Rejoice—greatly. 

Dear Fran,

I will keep you in my prayers as you fly to my humble prairie province to comfort your friend.  My heart goes out to her, it must be devestating for her.  My best friend died of cancer 1 1/2 years ago; it was a hard journey to stay by her side, but I'm ultimately glad that I did so.  I will never forget that experience; I paid one heck of a price, but I became more grateful for life.