LENT - PRELIMINARY REFLECTIONSAt the very outset we must take positive steps to acquire the spirit of Lent. What is the purpose of thisportion of the Church year? What can it give us? It gives divine life, and in divine life we have theessence and the end of all Christian piety. Objectively, this life was won by Christ through a hard fightin His bitter passion; subjectively, it is now bestowed in baptism, and renewed in second baptism orpenance. In briefest outline this gives the high purposes of Lent.a) Christ's passion! Christ, the divine Warrior, enters into conflict with the Prince of darkness. Duringthe first half of Lent the interior aspect of the conflict is accentuated, while during the second the mo-tif of physical suffering comes into the foreground and reaches its climax in Holy Week.We are not merely interested spectators of the mighty struggle between light and darkness; the mys-tery is re-enacted in each person's heart: in our soul Christ is wrestling with the devil; or better, by thevery fact that we are a member of the mystical Christ we are involved in this fight. At Easter we wantto be ready to sing Alleluia with our Leader, but the victory can only be gained by death and crucifix-ion to the natural man. Therefore we must re-live our Savior's passion in Lent; as catechumens wemust die with Christ; as penitents we must die with Christ; as disciples we must die with Christ in or-der to rise with Him as new men on Easter. Christ's passion, accordingly, is not merely the highest mo-tive for a spiritual renewal; rather it must be, in the sense of St. Paul, re-lived by us. We must shareHis sufferings and death.b) Baptism. Lent is springtime in the ecclesiastical year. From the planted and dying kernels of divinewheat a wonderful harvest will come, souls ripe for baptism. Lent is the ideal season to prepare forbaptism. In the ancient Church baptism was ordinarily administered to adults. After preliminary prepa-ration that often extended over a period of y...