It’s Lent again! How is this year’s celebration of Lent going to differ from last year’s celebration? Ponder the ashes on Ash Wednesday. They are the burnt remains of the palms leftover from last year’s Passion (Palm) Sunday. The cycle has come full circle. How am I different at the start of this Lent than I was at the end of Lent a year ago?
There is a cyclic dimension to the liturgical seasons. Each year we go through the cycle of Advent, Christmas, Ordinary Time, Lent, Easter and a continuation of Ordinary Time. Then we start over with Advent. We cycle through scripture readings every few years. We celebrate the same feasts year after year.
To those who do not have an appreciation of the liturgical life of the Church, this can seem almost a dull routine. “Aw, gee, I’ve heard that Gospel story a hundred times.”
It helps to make a distinction between routine and rhythm. Any routine can lead to a rut, if I let it passively take place around me. Rhythm implies beat, flow and harmony. I am actively engaged with the cycle.
Once I adopt a notion of rhythm, I still go through the liturgical cycles, just as I still do the same chores at the same time each day or week, and just as the four seasons take place, but I am not stuck in a rut. I am letting myself be caught up into the rhythm. 
Others have used images of dancing and music to describe engagement with the liturgical life of the Church. The notion of rhythm corresponds to St. Ignatius of Loyola’s concept of consolation.
Consolation is being in sync with the movements of God action in the world. Letting myself be caught in a lifeless rut sounds like his notion of desolation. Desolation is being out of tune or out of sync with the movements of God.
A related tool is Ignatius’ notion of repetition. He says that in repeating something, “we should pay attention to and dwell upon those points in which we have experienced greater consolation or desolation or greater spiritual appreciation.”
Ignatian repetition does not involve doing the same thing over and over. Rather, there is a gradual assimilation of the material for prayer, such that the prayer develops toward a simple and clear insight about one’s life in relation to Christ. 
Repetition is an important way to notice the interior spiritual movements in one’s heart. It’s really a deepening, a gradual honing of what is most essential.
I find that a helpful image to explain the Ignatian principle of repetition is the production of maple syrup. The farmer starts with the many litres of maple sap that he has tapped from the trees. Then gradually with the use of strong heat, he boils down the sap until it becomes the very rich maple syrup that we pour on our pancakes.
Likewise, in the spiritual and liturgical life, I repeat the seasons and scripture readings and eventually boil it down to the essential points of my faith. I come to know and appreciate the most intimate ways in which God is with me.
Let’s open ourselves this Lent to a progressive movement through the sacred season, so that we enter Holy Week with a strong sense of having honed in on what is most essential for our spiritual lives this year.
Yes, we’ve heard the readings many times before. Yes, we’ve celebrated Lent many times.
But, this year is different because I am different. I’ve grown since last year. I have had new experiences. I am not the same person I was at the start of Lent last year.