- Preparing for Lent - Matthew Leonard Lent is coming (sigh). Unlike really holy people, part of me starts to dread Lent as soon as the Christmas season ends. It’s the dark cloud on the horizon, the looming test for which I didn’t study. But once I refocus on the incredible value of sacrificing bourbon, coffee, and other “necessities” of life, some of the pain is assuaged. The goal of this life is to conform ourselves to Christ, the Christ who gave of himself for our salvation. Voluntary penance conquers our fleshly desires. It prevents them from mastering us so that we are more in control, so that we have possession of ourselves. And that’s the key. As St. John Paul II taught, you have to possess yourself before you can give yourself away. Why? Because you can’t give away what you don’t own. If we’re ruled by our passions, then we aren’t free to give of ourselves completely like Christ. That’s why penance is so powerful. It’s all about freedom and self-gift. The bourbon, coffe