Lent Is the Hour to Redeem America’s Soul
As our nation drifts toward division, illusion, and authoritarianism, this holy season demands more than ashes on our foreheads — it demands repentance in our hearts and courage in our witness.
Dear friends —
Beginning today, Letters from Leo will publish daily Lenten reflections through Easter, available exclusively to paid subscribers.
Each meditation will explore what it means to follow Jesus more faithfully in the midst of American civic and political life — not as partisans first, but as Christians whose consciences are shaped by the Cross.
Lent is a season of repentance, renewal, and resolve.
It is a time to confront our idols, strip away our illusions, and allow the light of God’s redeeming love to search and purify our hearts.
I hope you will walk this forty-day road with me — as your brother and fellow sinner — embracing prayer, sacrifice, and deeper conversion, and allowing the God of liberation to claim every corner of our lives and our public witness in an age of creeping authoritarianism.
“Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God.” — (Joel 2:13)
Ash Wednesday’s ashes speak a hard but liberating truth: despite the masks we wear and our distractions, we are dust and to dust we shall return.
This humbling ritual is good for us. It cuts through our narcissism and self-deception and brings us back to reality. The ashes remind each of us that none of us is God — we are all mortal and on a journey in need of mercy.
Lent asks us to keep an eye open towards reality
That journey begins with honest repentance. “Return to me with your whole heart,” God pleads through the prophet.
Lent is the acceptable time to heed that call. It’s tempting to keep faith private and ignore the world’s pain, but our personal conversion is meant to overflow into public renewal. If we want to help redeem the soul of America, we must start by examining our own. We cannot heal a nation’s wounds if we refuse to confront the sin in our own hearts.
God meets us even in the darkest parts of ourselves — and only then can his light shine through us to a nation in need of healing.
Look around and it’s clear why this conversion matters. Our nation and world have endured a bitter winter of turmoil. We see creeping authoritarianism threatening freedom, wars tearing apart countries, rampant illness, and toxic hatred dividing communities.
We live amid violence and injustice that can desensitize us. How easy it is to despair or pretend everything is fine.
But when the masks fall, the wounds of the world appear. Lent comes as a shout of truth and hope in this darkness. It refuses to let us paper over evil with a fake smile.
It shows us: Yes, change is possible!
God remains “rich in kindness and mercy,” always ready to forgive and start anew. No matter how cold the winter has been, Lent promises that spring is coming.
The very word Lent comes from the Old English lencten, meaning “lengthening” or “spring” — a transition from winter’s barrenness to spring’s new life. After a long cold season in our country, we trust that God’s redeeming spring is coming. But like any spring, it begins with a thaw — hearts softened by repentance.
Scripture tells us to rend our hearts, not our garments. Here’s what that means for us.
