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I was teaching up the hill at our parish school last week and asked the middle school kids a simple question: “What are you giving up for Lent?”

Answers ranged from, “Every drink except water and milk.” To, “chocolate, candy, and the incessant need to talk in class.”

One student even said, “Instead of giving something up, I’m choosing to pray every night.”

Loved that.

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But the most common answer was nothing. Unsure if they heard me, I’d ask again. Still, many students looked at me like I had two heads. 

“Give something up for Lent? Why do that? I’m doing nothing.”

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That’s not the answer I was hoping for. But if we dig a little deeper, perhaps they’re on to something.

Let’s do nothing for Lent.

But not in the sense they may have intended it; not in the sense of avoiding the Lord or our Christian duty to do penance.

Rather, let’s do nothing by sitting in front of the Lord without any other distractions. 

Imagine being still for 10 minutes a day, just waiting for the Lord to speak. 

No iPhone, no email, no children, no steering wheel in front of you. Just 10 minutes of silence. What might the Lord say?

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Perhaps he’ll clarify some of your future plans or bring to light an area of your life where he may be neglected.

Maybe the Lord will say nothing at all.

But the simple practice of taking the time to acknowledge that God is important and worthy of our time is itself a blessing.

Imagine that, doing nothing for 10 minutes a day during Lent.

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Just a few months ago, a movie came out called Harriet, which was about the heroic life of Harriet Tubman, the leader of the Underground Railroad.

Has anyone seen it?

The movie offers an in-depth look at the suffering she endured under the yoke of slavery before courageously escaping from her captors, finding freedom in the North. 

What makes Harriet’s life so fascinating is the fact that, after finding her own way to freedom, she turned around and spent the next ten years of her life helping others to do the same.

She used a system called the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses that led people from slavery in the South to freedom in the North. 

Amazingly, Harriet never lost a single “passenger.” Every person who followed her found their way to freedom.

But this was the caveat: you could not travel without her. Only Harriet knew the way. 

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In a similar way, Jesus reveals his divinity to his disciples in today’s Gospel. 

First, he leads Peter, James, and John up a high mountain, where he begins glowing from within, and speaking with Moses and Elijah, two of the greatest prophets from the Old Testament. 

Then God proclaims from the heavens, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”

The message is clear: Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He’s from heaven and to heaven he shall return. And anyone who follows him shall also arrive safely in paradise. 

That’s the good news for Peter. He understands this. But the bad news? Peter doesn’t understand yet just how hard following Jesus can be. 

As Saint Paul says in our second reading, we must, “bear our share of hardship for the Gospel,” because there’s no reward without sacrifice; no life without death; no resurrection without the cross.

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This what Lent is all about: learning how to follow Jesus. In particular, learning how to “listen” to his voice, a voice that speaks softly – but consistently – throughout our lives. 

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Think of how often we feel the Lord guiding us through our conscience, through prayer, through scripture, or through the sage advice of a friend.

God constantly urges us to listen – and to follow him.

But sometimes it’s just not that easy, is it? We hear many voices vying for our attention.

There is the call to follow Christ, yes. 

But then there’s the call to win, to have the perfect marriage, to chase after pleasure, to consume more than we need, to pretend our lives are pieced perfectly together.

The call to follow Christ is but one voice among many, which is why we need to be disciplined, to make sacrifices, and to trust this Lent.

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Return to the story of Harriet Tubman. 

Although she and her “passengers” wanted nothing more than to find freedom in the North, they faced plenty opposition along the way.

There were militiamen, bounty hunters, and law enforcement officials, who wanted to capture or kill them.

At times these “passengers” even had to fight against their own instincts, telling them to give up; to turn around, to return to where they came from.

Many questioned Harriet. “Where is she taking us? Does she really know what she’s doing? How can we trust her? Our lives are in her hands!”

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In a similar way, you and I should expect to encounter obstacles to our spiritual growth, not only during Lent, but also throughout our lives. 

For example, we’re immersed in an increasingly secular, self-promoting, consumer-driven culture. Life is not about God; it’s about me.

And sometimes the people we love don’t share our faith or understand our value judgments. 

Hardest of all is the truth that we can even be at war with ourselves. As Saint Paul says, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 

How often we experience one step forward with the Lord, then two steps back. Like “passengers” on the Underground Railroad, we can question our faith and doubt the Lord.

“Where is he taking us? Does he really know the way to freedom?”

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So where am I facing opposition on my Lenten journey? Who or what causes me to struggle in my spiritual life?

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Maybe it’s a particular temptation, a vice, a person, or a personality trait. The examples may vary, but the result is the same.

“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

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Lent is not only about growing in self-awareness, but also about growing in discipline, training ourselves to follow Christ.

For just as Harriet Tubman led every “passenger” safely to the North, so Jesus leads every person who follows him safely into heaven.

That all begins with listening to his voice.

What, then, is the Lord saying to me today?

The Church is widely known for making distinctions. For example, there’s a difference between an angel and an archangel, good versus evil, a sinner versus a Saint, or a venial sin versus a mortal sin.

A venial sin might involve harboring a slight grudge in our heart towards someone who has hurt us; a mortal sin would involve intentionally acting on that anger – let’s say to the point of murder.

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While we are most likely not guilty of any mortal sin, we can commit venial sins all the time. The temptation is to brush them off, as if they are really not that big of a deal. 

I’m angry at someone…. so what?

But the Gospel tells us that that grudge IS a big deal, because no sin is permissible in heaven. “Whoever is angry with his brother,” Jesus says, “will be liable to judgment” (Mt. 5:22).

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Given we are in the season of Lent, now is the perfect time for us to do a spring cleaning, examining our conscience to see where we may have failed to love – or where we can love others better.

For example, do I judge others? Do I gossip? Do I harbor anger or a grudge? 

Even if we don’t act on these feelings, Jesus still wants to remove them from our hearts, especially through the sacrament of confession, because we cannot enter the kingdom of God with our hearts weighed down by sin.

That is the challenge of discipleship: to forgive without limits; to love to a ridiculous level, just as Christ has loved us.