For Catholics, this typically means an attitude of great excitement, impending dread, or casual nonchalance has set in by this time. Which category you fall into might say a lot about your understanding of the season, but I'm not here to discuss that today. I'm here to answer some probably questions you have yourself or others have asked you, all centered around this one question: Why do we celebrate Lent?
I had to teach this lesson to a group of Kindergarteners a week ago and it is more than a little challenging to explain penance to this age group, who may not yet even understand what the word "sin" means. So it has been on my mind for the last week to see if I can't shed some light on the subject of Lent as a liturgical season observed in the Church year.
I have also had the privilege this semester of taking a class online entitled C.S. Lewis: Vices and Virtues. The primary focus of this class thus far has been the training we must undertake as baptized Christians in order to grow in holiness, eliminate vices from our lives, and adopt virtues. This practice is known as asceticism. Asceticism takes direction from the practices of the monastics. But lest the average lay Catholic becomes intimidated at even the mention of living like a monk, don't rush to conclusions. The monks live out the vocation of the whole Church, true enough, but they do so in a unique and more intensified way, not just for themselves (because they have discerned that they are called to this lifestyle for their own salvation), but also for the whole Church (they live as intercessors and penitents for the sins of the Church and the world).
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which is, interestingly, not a Holy Day of Obligation, yet it is one of the most well-attended liturgies in the Church. If you're not familiar with the liturgy of Ash Wednesday, it is marked (no pun intended) by the distribution of ashes, that is, the faithful come forward after the homily and are blessed with ashes on their foreheads in the sign of the cross. When they are signed with the cross, they are told one of two things: (1) "Repent and believe in the Gospel," nice and hopeful; or (2) "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return," wait, what?
To an outsider, this might look a little strange. But it is a significant reminder to all of the faithful that this season is one of repentance. Why must we repent? Because we are sinners. In the first sense, we bear the consequences of the first sin, the original sin, which makes it much more difficult for us to practice virtues and overcome vices. But why the focus on death? Sin and death go hand-in-hand. It is a reminder to us that, due to the first sin, we must all die someday before we can enter into eternity. The call to repentance in light of the death that we are all going to face someday serves as a reminder to us that we should repent of sin, turn away from sin, and live according to the Gospel starting now. The saints understood this well.
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| St. John Bosco |
St. John Bosco said, "Live with your feet on earth; but in your heart be in heaven."
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| St. Bonaventure |
St. Bonaventure said, "...to lead a good life, a man must always imagine himself to be at the hour of death."
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| St. Alphonsus de Liguori |
St. Alphonsus de Liguori said: "...if you wish to live well, spend the remaining days of life with death before your eyes."
and the Carthusian monks greeting to one another is "Frater, memento mori," that is, "Brother, remember your death."
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| Frater, memento mori. |
Is this because Catholics are morbid? Hardly. Look at the saints like St. John Paul II, St. John Bosco, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati: these saints had a great love for life and adventure; yet they were also aware that they were called to a life beyond this one: an eternal life infinitely better and more beautiful than this life that is passing away.
In short, the effects of original sin make it harder for us to live as we were meant to. To atone for our own faults in this area, as well as those of the whole world, we do penance.
An important part of asceticism is the practice of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Now you've probably heard of these three things together and, most likely, it was during a homily during Lent. But what is the point? Why do we pray, fast, and give alms at this time during the year? And we're allowed to stop as soon as it's Easter, right?
A wise man once said that to fulfill the demand placed on us by St. Paul in the first letter to the Thessalonians (5:17), "pray without ceasing," or "pray at all times," we must pray at specific times. This is true of the liturgical seasons as well. How many of us would remember that we are called to live in a state of repentance (Lent), a state of preparation for Christ's coming (Advent), a state of joy because Christ has come and has conquered death (Christmas/Easter), a state of faithful waiting (Ordinary Time) if it was not for these special times of the year which the Church marks and observes with various signs and practices? Considering we have a hard enough time keeping New Year's Resolutions for longer than maybe 4 weeks, I think that we could all use this kind of reminder that Holy Mother Church gives us.
The seasons of the Liturgical Year are a call to us to be aware of the life that we live now as a preparation for the next. We repent now because we know that we are sinners, and we want to purify ourselves of all stains that make us unworthy of the kingdom of God and incompatible with the pure life of God that is perfect self-giving love. We must be purified of all selfishness. The way that we begin to achieve this is by learning to be detached from those things that cause us to sin. From there we progress to detach ourselves from those things that, while not occasions of sin, are indulgences that we permit ourselves to have too often. It could be as simple as the temptation to hit the "Snooze" button one more time before we get up in the morning. St. Josemaria Escriva calls those first moments when we have to wake up the minutes of concupiscence. It is all to easy to indulge the flesh and let ourselves sleep longer. (Now I don't mean that you should not sleep a healthy amount; but we should content ourselves with enough sleep to do the work that we need to do for that day. Beyond that, we should seek to detach ourselves from indulging our bodies in this way.) The spirit is called to be master of the flesh, not the flesh of the spirit. This is why we observe the practice of fasting during Lent. We look at our lives and find those things that we are attached to and we choose one of those things that we can fast from. Or it could be something that we enjoy, but are willing to sacrifice out of love for Christ and a dependence on Him for all that we need. This fasting should ideally be accompanied by some good behavior (virtue) in its stead. For instance, if I choose to fast from my snooze button for Lent, what am I going to do with the extra time? If I'm going to fill that extra time with Facebook, that's not exactly a good fast, is it? But, if I resolve to fill that extra time I have in the morning now with an observance of personal prayer time, then there is great opportunity for God to work in my life during the 40 days that I seek to observe that fast.
Some good questions for discerning what might be a good choice for your fast this Lent might be these:
What are the things in my life that I prioritize over spending time with the Lord?
What are the things in my life that get in the way of my sanctification?
What things am I selfishly attached to?
What things do I think are more/equally necessary to me as God and His grace when they really are not?
What sinful habits am I prone to (gossip? dishonesty? slander? laziness?) and what virtuous practice(s) can I adopt to avoid these during this Lenten season?
We cannot achieve these goals without prayer. We must be in continual contact with our Lord if we hope to overcome sin and temptation. I was reminded this weekend as I chaperoned our diocesan high school youth conference that none of us can hope to proclaim the Gospel if we are not living a life of prayer. This is true because, when we look to Jesus, He couldn't carry out His ministry without prayer. He knew that.
This is why He so often goes off by Himself to pray. And His disciples see the powerful influence prayer has on His life. How do I know that? Because He comes back from prayer one day and what do His disciples ask? "Lord, teach us to pray." Fr. Michael Scanlan in his book Appointment with God asks us to hear the intensity of their request. They are insistent. They want to pray like Jesus does because they see how much it affects the rest of His life, how much it strengthens Him, maybe even somehow it changes the look in His eyes and they notice that. We cannot become holy without being in contact with the All-Holy. This contact is achieved through prayer. We must pray! The Church calls us to remember the importance of prayer by calling upon us to focus on this practice in a particular way during this season of Lent.
Almsgiving is another exercise in detachment from the things of this world. As Catholics, we are called to be living sacraments: living in the world as outward signs of the invisible kingdom of heaven (at work within us through the gift of grace). We are called to be in the world, but not of it. We are called not necessarily to live with no possessions, but to live as though we had none. Or, to put it another way, we are called to live with such an attitude toward our possessions that if they were all taken from us the next day we would be able to embrace that with no distress, and a simple yet profound trust in God's grace. This is where the attitude of the Friars Minor can teach us a great deal: the Franciscans (Friars Minor) live according to a rule that says they are to possess nothing. They beg for all they need, and they are not allowed to take money unless they need it to buy medicine for a sick brother. This instills in them a profound trust in God to provide for all of their needs. Not all are called to live this way; but we are all called to live with such a childlike trust and detachment from worldly things. Almsgiving focuses particularly on detachment from money. We are already called to practice this when we tithe, that is, give ten percent of our income to God and His Church. But during Lent we are asked to stretch ourselves further by giving alms to the poor. Through giving alms, we show our trust in God that He will be true to His word that if we care for the least of these He will reward us. This can be one of the more intimidating practices for some of us. Will God be true to His word in this? Will I still be able to provide for my family if I am tithing and also giving alms? A very wise and holy priest once said: "God will not be outdone in generosity." He has promised, "and He who has promised is faithful" (Hebrews 10:23).
With all of this in mind, let us enter into the Lenten season with an attitude of openness and a true desire to grow closer to God. Let us pray for the grace of discernment to know what it is that God is asking us to detach ourselves from in particular during this season of Lent. Let us ask God for the strength to fast, pray, and give alms faithfully and with a true sense of purpose. May our observance of this season lead us to greater intimacy with God and a greater understanding of His purpose for us, which includes a true vision of the world that sees it as a preparation for eternal life in the next.
Frater, memento mori.
Until we meet again,
the Itinerant Catechist
