Psalm Reflection: The Second Sunday of Lent - Cycle C

“The Lord is my light and my salvation.” - Psalms 27

I came across a video this week about “dark retreats,” where individuals spend a weekend or longer in complete darkness and isolation. They wear special goggles that block out all light, and many participants report that the experience can elicit a deeply meditative state where the worries and stresses of life fade away completely.

What I found most interesting about these retreats were the reactions of participants when they first took off their goggles and saw the sun again. In every instance I could find, the participants wept immediately. Everything they saw was heightened and amplified, colors were brighter and the sounds of nature were more musical to their ears. A temporary deprivation from the Sun made it all the more glorious when they could experience it again.

That is what Lent is.

We are on a dark retreat, ridding our lives of harmful habits, but also sacrificing things temporarily, so that our appreciation of what matters most can be refocused and amplified in the way we live our lives. We are exposing the googles we wear that prevent us from seeing the Lord.

That is also why Lent is not forever, because we are not meant to fast forever. Our spiritual lives should ebb and flow between experiences of fasting and feasting, sacrificing and celebrating.

If you spend a long amount of time without the Sun, your body cannot produce as much Vitamin D, which can lead to problems with bone strength. We can have trouble regulating sleep without the sun leading to fatigue, and symptoms of anxiety and depression can worsen, as in Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Our metabolism can slow down and we can gain weight and our risk for chronic health problems and infectious diseases can increase.

We need the sun.

During Lent, we are also reminded of how much we need the Son.

Our symptoms and sins are exposed during Lent through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We are able to reach deeper places of spiritual communion with God because we rid ourselves of distractions and earthly attachments. The dark goggles of our sins and vices begin to be removed and we are able to see the world from an entirely new perspective.

We walk through our lives most days completely unaware of how much we need the sun and ignorant of the many benefits we enjoy because of it.

The same is true in our spiritual lives with Jesus. We walk through most of life completely unaware or forgetful of all that the Lord has done for us, and how utterly hopeless life would be without Him. 

Lent is a period of darkness we choose, a deprivation of things we do not need as much as we need God, in order to be able to see the glory of God more clearly at work in and around us.

What is preventing you from seeing clearly right now?

What consumed a majority of your time and attention? Is it worth it?

What is your biggest obstacle to being closer to the Lord?

Lent is a time to retreat from the normalcy of life to be reminded of how much we need the Son. If you have already failed at your Lenten commitments, that is okay. You are human. Recommit, or commit to something new. 

Every day is an opportunity to take off the goggles that obscure our view of the Lord so that we can pursue Him more intentionally.

Do not give up, do not resolve to live your life in darkness.

You need the sun.

You need the Son.

I am praying for you, please pray for me, and I will see you in the Eucharist.

Matt

This reflection is based on the Responsorial Psalm for this Sunday, March 16th, 2025, the Second Sunday of Lent - Cycle C: Psalms 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14.