Babylon 5 and Lent

Lent always makes me think of an episode of Babylon 5 - Ceremonies of Light and Dark - in which Delenn wants everyone to participate in a Rebirth Ceremony where they must "give up" something important to them. Everyone complies except the Ranger, Marcus Cole. Before he became a Ranger, all his family and his home and his work had been destroyed by the bad guys, so when Delenn asks him why he doesn't want to take part in the ceremony, he says ...

Everything I was, everything I had, all of it died that night. I don't have anything left to give.

But she tells him ... Yes. You have lost much, endured much, sacrificed greatly, but you cling to the memory of your sacrifices of all the things you have lost or left behind. They drag behind you like chains of your own making. They can have a terrible power over you Marcus. The power of grief, and lost, and regret. Yes, you have let go of the people, the places, the things, but you have not let go of the pain. You have not forgiven yourself ... [for] Being alive.

When Lent comes around I feel kind of like Marcus - a resistance - I don't want to give anything up because I'm still mad at God for what seems like my losses. Maybe someday I'll get over that. But anyway, here's a video clip from that episode of Babylon 5 that shows Marcus defending Delann's honor, though sadly I couldn't find one of the conversation mentioned above ....