On
Ash Wednesday our parish church was packed, standing room only. That was great! But we won't see some of those people until
Easter. Attending Mass every Sunday
without fail is much more important than only coming on Ash Wednesday.
True,
the blessing with ashes is a beautiful sacramental and a wonderful
tradition. In our presence after Mass on
Fat Tuesday morning the day before, our pastor, Father Thomas Hamm burned the
palms of previous Palm Sundays. Fat
Tuesday is the traditional day for Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Mobile, Rio in
Brazil, etc. as one last fling before the forty days of prayer, fast, and
almsgiving. By no means are the
festivities an official Church observance.
The next day, Ash Wednesday, the Mardi Gras partying is transformed into
Lent, the somber period of penance and repentance. Click on https://youtu.be/Y4DVUlf7ec4 for a one minute segment of a beautiful talk by Matthew Leonard on Lent.
The
Gospel of the First Sunday of Lent relates that Christ spent forty days of
prayer and fasting in the desert as a retreat in preparation for His public
ministry. We could also spend a day or
two on retreat in preparation for a new phase in our lives.......ordination,
marriage, college, graduate school, first job after graduation, a new career
changing job or mission, etc. In any
event, a short annual retreat, day of recollection, or day of renewal is an
excellent practice for any Catholic striving to become holy and a true man or
woman of God. Lent also consists of
forty days of prayer, fasting, and alms giving, not counting
Sundays
Temptations. Interesting is that Christ was tempted by the
devil in the same way as we are (Matthew 4:1-11). Temptations revolve around four worldly
aspirations: Pleasure, wealth, power,
and honor (prestige). “Turn these stones
into bread” purports to satisfy pleasure in relieving hunger; “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself
down (from the tower)” appeals to honor for such a public miracle. “All these I shall give to you (all the
kingdoms of the world), if you will prostrate yourself and worship me”
supposedly promises wealth and power. Do
we not make idols out of money, power, pleasure, and prestige? Do we become slaves to any of them? In other words, do we become addicted to
them? And we can't simply blame it all
on the devil. So often temptations come
from within ourselves, from our own selfishness, from our own weaknesses.
In
the Old Testament penitents would wear sack cloth and sit in a heap of
ashes. On Ash Wednesday, the priest
blesses and marks each person on the forehead with the ashes in the form of a
cross saying: "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel." Traditionally, the priest said: "Remember
that you are dust and to dust you will return" as a reminder of
mortality and it's time to repent.
Clearly, the focus is upon repentance and conversion. i.e., turning away
from sin and turning back to Christ, to follow Him, and to become closer to
Him.
Prayer. During Lent, we tend to focus more on giving
up things.......sweets, movies, etc.
That is the negative. We should
place a much greater emphasis upon doing.
That is the positive. Prayer is
basically conversation with God. It
brings us closer to Him through adoration, praise, thanksgiving, and
petition. Prayer can also take the form
of Bible reading. A great lenten
sacrifice is to read just one chapter of the Bible a day from the New
Testament. That only takes about 15
minutes. There's also other spiritual
reading possibilities. More frequent
attendance at Daily Mass and lenten devotions such as Stations of the Cross
often followed by Benediction, and Eucharistic Adoration are fabulous lenten
sacrifices.
Fasting is really no big
deal. Before Vatican II, Catholics were required to fast every day
except Sunday which is not counted among the forty days. Today, Catholics between the ages of 19
through 59 are required to fast only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. It consists of only one full meal and the
other two combined should not exceed the full meal. Furthermore, there is no snacking between
meals. That's really great for weight
watchers as is giving up sweets and could be done every day during Lent. Sweets never taste as good as it does on
Easter Sunday. Giving up tobacco and
alcohol has all kinds of health benefits.
Giving up TV, video games, partying, etc. are great time savers and
forms of fasting. Penance promotes self
discipline. You can't conquer the world
until you conquer yourself first.
Penance also makes restitution for our sins.
Alms-giving
is not simply giving money to charity.
It's also good works.......volunteering in the Community and in the
Church; simply helping people in need; doing favors for people; opening our
hearts to others, listening to people who need a friend, visiting the sick, the
spiritual and corporal works of mercy, etc.
There's so much truth in the old saying:
“Charity begins at home”. It's
easy to be nice and courteous to strangers, but not so easy with our loved ones
who sometimes are annoying, insensitive, blunt, rude, discourteous, and want
their own way. Little acts of love go a
long way.
Lent
is a time for self-examination and developing virtues. What are things that I have to work on? How can I become a better person? How can I become closer to God? How can I become a true man or woman of
God? The focus is upon holiness and
eternity. To enter Heaven, one must be
holy. We can become holy either on Earth
or in Purgatory which may take many years.
It's a choice each of us must make.
That's what Lent is all about.
May all of you have a very fruitful Lent.
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