What was a season of fear and sadness as a child, I have come to realize as a time of hope. I remember growing up with a Catholic father who insisted on fish every Friday, and yet we never attended Mass. Instead I went to a Lutheran church with my father, and Catholic Mass with my mother.

Every year in mid-winter, both communities practiced Lent – a season of reflection, repentance and renewal. It began with Ash Wednesday, where an ash cross was placed on one’s forehead, and was followed by 40 days of a sorrowful feeling.

As a child it was a dreary time. We were told to give things up...