Dear Friends in Christ,

It is my Lent to break my Lent,
To eat when I would fast,
To know when slender strength is spent,
Take shelter from the blast
When I would run with wind and rain,
To sleep when I would watch.
It is my Lent to smile at pain
But not ignore its touch.

It is my Lent to listen well
When I would be alone,
To talk when I would rather dwell
In silence, turn from none
Who call on me, to try to see
That what is truly meant
Is not my choice. If Christ’s I’d be
It’s thus I’ll keep my Lent.
— Madeleine L’Engle, “For Lent, 1966”

Madeleine L’Engle is the noted author of A Wrinkle in Time. Other children’s books include Dance In The Desert and Stay Angry Little Girl. For the latter, Kirkus Review wrote, “…gives girls a full-throated endorsement to be true to themselves. Empowering.”

This poet shocks us in her beginning lines, “…to break my Lent, / To eat when I would fast.” She immediately pivots to affirming her humanity. Sometimes people just know when “strength is spent,” and “shelter from the blast” is needed. “Sleep” is chosen over staying awake to “watch.” Her struggle gets condensed into “It is my Lent to smile at pain” without denial, ignoring “its touch.”

How is it possible for one to smile at pain while experiencing pain?

Have you found your own answer to this question, or have you had the good fortune never to have had to grapple with it?

In the last stanza, she defines her lent as “listening well.” She is well attuned to her old habit of isolating, living in a state of aloneness and silence, a condition Thoreau also addressed in his famous dictum, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”

So what is she “listening well” to? She is listening to a wiser voice, a healthier voice, and a more humble voice. The infinitive “to talk” is to guide her out of silence. That voice is none other than Christ, beckoning her to turn, which also means to repent.

Her Lent will be grounded in honoring relationship and her essential needs to be in communion with others. With Christ.

Your fellow traveler,

—Richard