"I can see your Halo..."

I work as a lay chaplain in a school in Coventry and Lent is always a bit of a funny time for me. Students who have never displayed any religious tendencies before come up to me and proudly inform me that they have given up ham sandwiches for Lent while students I have worked closely with in a chaplaincy team context, tell me that they have given up giving up, and have found it too hard to go without over the 40 days leading up to Easter.

This got me thinking that maybe during Lent there are other ways we can show our devotion to the Lord, other ways we can make an effort and change something to better ourselves.

For me this presentation, made by my good friend Sabina Koscielecki and edited a bit by myself which we used to show in our retreat centre in East London, sums up the attitude I will be trying to have over Lent perfectly.

For me, lent is that journey towards Jesus, towards the ‘light of His halo’ if you will. And everyday of Lent is a new opportunity to learn from yesterday, live for today and hope for tomorrow.

Trying something new and taking that knowledge, that new experience forward with you towards Easter, towards that halo, is my wish for Lent. I tell my students at school that this can be being the first to say sorry in an argument, or taking a breath and not giving their teacher attitude. And if we make a mistake then that’s ok too, because ‘anyone who has not made a mistake has not tried anything new.’

And if we do this then we are really making ourselves new for the Easter season.

Luke Turner, 23,
Lay Chaplain,
Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School & Language College.