On February 14, traditional Christians congregated at church to observe Ash Wednesday. This is a day that initiates a 40-day period, called Lent, which focuses on acts of self-sacrifice to prepare the heart for the resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter.
During Lent, Christians are encouraged to engage in deeper prayer, fasting, self-discipline, and acts of charity. Christians are exhorted to look past themselves, past their own desires and wants, not aimlessly, but with a greater goal at heart. They are entreated to audit their lives during this season in order to purge themselves of any sinful desires, habits, and vices, and to realign their lives with that of Christ. In Lent, Christians are also exhorted to engage in acts of mercy in form of almsgiving, by caring for the poor, the sick, and the ailing. The goal of Lent is to establish a rule of life whereby a Christian is looking past his own wants and needs, in order to restructure his life for the better, and to help those who might have need; all this to prepare the heart for Christ’s victory over death at Easter.
If Lent is a season that accentuates deeds of self-sacrifice, there is no better year to observe it than this year, 2024.
2024 marks exactly 30 years after the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, which claimed the lives of innumerable innocent people. Sadly, 30 years ago, when the church was supposed to have been teaching the principles of Lent to its people, principles of fasting, prayer, self-discipline, and charitable deeds, they were busy spewing hatred and malicious propaganda. The church in 1994 Rwanda did not adequately teach its Christians to be like Christ; instead, it negligently taught the things of the world; hate, division, and greed. Lent in 1994 was no Lent at all. It was lent with farce.
Contrary to those pulpit charlatans, we witnessed in the heroic acts of the Rwanda Patriotic Front, and those who fought gallantly to stop the Genocide and restore peace to our country, a deep sense of Lenten discipline. They willingly accepted to go days and months without food, they willingly accepted to go days and months without feeling the warmth and embrace of a loved one; many left their homes, their babies, and spouses in order to go fight for people whom they didn’t even know. They gave their best years, many gave their lives for a cause greater than themselves, something which was not beneficial just to them personally, but to millions of people. They fought for peace, they fought for fairness, they fought for equality. In my opinion, the acts of these people depict Lent for what it ought to be. Whereas some dress in beautiful vestments and utter beautiful liturgy, they might not always understand what true Lent means. Lent is going beyond oneself to the betterment of neighbor, just like Jesus Christ himself did.
As the 30th memorial of the genocide against the Tutsi draws closer, I would encourage as many people as possible to take up the lessons learned from our valiant heroes and commit, this Lent, to doing acts that further the message of self-sacrifice. If our country was built on the blood and shoulders of giants who fought with valor in order that we might have a sane place to call home, we too can do it, on a different scale, by committing ourselves to doing acts that will reflect such spirit. May the lives of those who have gone before us never dim in our hearts and minds. May their courage and fortitude spur us on to do far greater things, because after all, we have seen the fruit of their hard work and sweat. It is possible, it can be done. We just have to discipline ourselves to do the work, to commit to the right doctrine of love of neighbor and country. It can be done. Lent is about seeing past oneself, let us put this into action today.
May we commit to acts that are greater than ourselves. Acts that will bring us closer to God, while bringing us closer to each other.