God, give us grace, this coming Lent, so to lay to heart our ways, that we may weary of all which is not His, from Him, to Him: and may, through Him, the Living Way, by new love and obedience, attain to Him, Who, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, is the End of our being, the Fulness of bliss of all creation, 'the Eternal Infinite Truth, the origin, fountain, measure, end, and cause of all created truth,' the ever-blessed, beatific Life; to which He, of His mercy, bring us sinners, to Whom be all glory and thanksgiving and adoration and praise, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Rev'd E.B. Pusey, 19th century Anglican priest, theologian, and scholar (1)

The Season of Lent is often described as a journey. From darkness to unending light. From chains of captivity to holy freedom. From the desert to the abundant waters of Baptism. From fearful scarcity and hunger for forgiveness to the Lamb's high feast where all are fed with the Bread of Heaven and the Cup of Salvation. The journey takes the Church from sin to forgiveness, from death to life.

This season of contrasts claims us for a time, one of the blessings of the liturgical cycle. Like a grain of wheat that must die and fall into the ground in order to bear fruit, Lent is a time for each of us to die to all that is not of God. We are invited to embrace our total dependence upon God; yea, to run with all haste toward our heavenly Father who runs towards us, and whose Son's arms are stretched out in love on the hard wood of the cross, who redeems us from sin and death.

The hymn "When I survey the wondrous cross" proclaims: Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. It is not God who demands our all, but our true self that yearns for a deeper union with Jesus. With great thanksgiving, we offer all to God.

Let us enter with joy into the Lenten journey, into the mystery of our redemption. I leave you with another of Canon Pusey's prayers:

Good Jesus, Fountain of Love,

Fill us with thy love.

Absorb us into thy love;

Compass us with thy love,

That we may see all things in the light of thy love,

Receive all things as the token of thy love,

Speak of all things in words breathing of thy love,

Win through thy love others for thy love,

Be kindled day by day with a new glow of thy love,

Until we be fitted to enter into thine everlasting love,

To adore thy love and love to adore thee, our God and all.

Even so come, O Lord Jesus. (2)

A holy Lent to us all. 

(1) Webber, Christopher L., ed. Give Us Grace: An Anthology of Anglican Prayers. Morehouse Publishing, 2004. Print.

(2) "A prayer by E.B. Pusey: Jesus, Fountain of Love." Lent & Beyond: An Anglican Prayer Blog. Web.