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February 10, 2024: A Holy and Productive Lent
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This coming Wednesday, the Church of Christ begins the Season of Lent. (I almost wrote Advent. That’s come and gone). This great, great season in the Church each year is always an opportunity to relearn how to “lay low,” while “going higher” in lives of faith and good works. This incredibly beautiful religious season presents to every Christian in the world the possibility of strengthening the internal bond that God has created between every one of our human souls, and Him. Such strengthening is not accomplished by any means through a daily “party spirit,” or jumping through hoops, or running a 50-yard dash in 4.4 seconds (forget that!), or through winning the Super Bowl or World Series (which the Red Sox have no chance of doing this year, again). Or, maybe a successful Lent, as we like to call it, does include each one of the above, but in a spiritual way.
To what can we compare a 4.4 second 50-yard dash in relation to the meaning of this upcoming Lenten season? Well, how about getting off to a fast start? What does a fast start look like in spiritual terms for the season of Lent? Possibly having a plan that centers us in our relationship with the Lord and one another. A plan that says, “Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving will be practiced right from the start.” But, if we already have a healthy, dedicated life of prayer, then how can our prayer life “get off to a fast start,” you may ask? If our prayer life is already running 4.4 seconds in our spiritual and religious 50-yard dash, how can we improve on something where our potential is already at a maximum level? I would answer this with at least one possibility; if you do not attend daily Mass, and if you’re capable of attending daily Mass during Lent, depending on one’s work situation or other factors, then you may wish to consider this daily practice for the season of Lent. The Holy Liturgy, we know, is the greatest prayer in the Church, where we are blessed to hear God’s word proclaimed and receive Jesus in the Eucharistic species. If your Mass is not of the daily sort, then please consider upping your fast start to Lent from 4.4. seconds to 4.3 or 4.2 seconds. Which, at the length of a 50-yard spiritual dash, would be a huge advancement. Asking any sprinter, they can tell us how much of a difference .1 or .2 second makes between a gold medal and a bronze at this distance.
Or, how about a fast start with fasting? I was never a fan of giving up food that I really enjoyed during Lent as a kid. It was very hard, which is the point. If I remember correctly, I believe I used to “give in” on this section of sacrifice early on in my 40 days and 40 nights. As they say, there was never a chocolate bar I didn’t like. If I passed by one in a store, it seemed my hand would automatically reach for it on the shelf, with the hopes I had enough money in my pocket to pay for it. Over the years, as food became more abundant, more than what was in the cupboards of the Riley household, it became easier to make a sacrifice with certain types of food for the express purpose of genuinely sacrificing something meaningful in my diet. Usually, but not always, something that was not the best type of food for a person’s health. I remember giving up pizza one Lent. It’s torture when a person cannot eat the best food God ever created. The only people who don’t like pizza work in pizza shops because they get sick of it. Maybe a spiritual 50-yard dash for Lent in the religious area of fasting calls forth from us a commitment to do something good for our physical health, but more so for our spiritual health. Ash Wednesday itself is an easy start to such a promise, with food restrictions already in place for this day. But, when Thursday rolls around, are we ready to commit to imitating in a very small way – but maybe big to us – the sacrifice our Lord made on the Cross? As with all sacrifices during Lent, this can be a hard one to keep for 40 days and nights. But that’s the goal. And if we fall off the chocolate or pizza wagon, then we are to hop back on.
And then there’s the really tough 50-yard spiritual dash. The one that concerns almsgiving. I hear it said more and more how people refuse to donate to a charity because of high administrative costs for certain charities, claiming a high percentage of one’s donation is directed at paying the salaries of workers, or something else that detracts from the donation meant to go directly toward a charity’s main goal, such as feeding the hungry. This type of thinking can be understood to a certain point. But never to a point where it’s used as an excuse to not be charitable at all. This I have seen and heard.
A possible fast start to Lent in the realm of almsgiving, which does not always need to be financial, is to have a ready plan that will lead us to using our personal talents toward the good of others. In other words, our faith working through love. This can be volunteering at a place where God’s work is accomplished in serving the poor, as an example. Or, having the courage to pray the Rosary with a religious group outside an abortion clinic, praying to save the lives of unborn children, that parents will make the one and only right choice. Or in fact choosing a charity that performs a true, authentic Christian work of mercy, making a monetary gift that supports their mission. In this regard, Partners in Charity is fast arriving for another year. This overall program is without question one where those who donate support a host of local Church charities that, among other things, address the pain and suffering of the poor and hungry.
Getting off to a fast start for the lengthy season of Lent includes some good planning, with a will to stay the course for the entire holy season. As mentioned above, if we happen to fall off the spiritual wagon of what we had planned with regard to deepening our relationship with Christ and one another for the Lenten season, if our 50-yard spiritual dash is turned into a 300-yard dash by our weakness, omissions, and sinful acts, there’s only one proper answer to give; get back on the track of what we had hoped to do, and pick up where we left off. I love the Gospel story of Peter asking Jesus how many times he must forgive his brother. Is it seven times? Jesus answers, not seven times, but seventy times seven. Meaning, each and every time. This takes a boatload of patience on our part if we’re the ones forgiving our brother or sister. During Lent, it may happen that we need to forgive, not only another, but also ourselves seventy times seven. It’s a very good thing for all people to realize the great truth that God forgives us every time we honestly seek his mercy. And, that our good God is divinely patient with our sinful weakness. His mercy endures not only forever, but every time we want to be touched by it. The point being here, may we possess the courage and spiritual wherewithal to seek God’s forgiveness this Lent (and throughout the year), while also forgiving ourselves, so we can return to our 50-yard dash and avoid turning it into a 300-yard crash by simply receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation. God makes it easy for us when life gets tough or upended. This is the power realized in the Sacrament of God’s mercy.
And speaking of which, may we all seriously consider receiving the Sacrament of Penance this Lenten season. Please, no excuses like “I can’t think of any sins for which to ask forgiveness, I’m soooo good.” Please. I’m not out to make anyone feel bad about themselves, or to make ourselves feel like we are the most pitiful, wretched creature God has called forth from his Divine mind. Because we are not. We are God’s prized possession. We are the new Israel with a Messiah who rules the world in mercy and holiness. We are the top of God’s game, if you will. His daily Super Bowl. With that said, we fall. And sometimes we fall miserably. But, “where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.” Amazingly, God’s grace and mercy overcome the sins we commit. Which we all do. And what we also come to know is God’s gentleness. Thus, it’s the ultimate responsibility of each priest to take on a good portion of God’s gentleness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation in our role of in persona Christi, while leading a penitent to recognize and “own their sins.” Not by way of shame alone, by also by way of true conversion. What must be included in the 50-yard spiritual dash for each of us during the season of Lent is a visit to the confessional after performing an examination of conscience that will lead us to the truest freedom we can know; freedom in Christ Jesus.
As does Fr. Paul, I pray for all parishioners of St. Anne’s Parish to have a holy and productive Lent this year. The spiritual tenets of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving found in Matthew, chapter 6 are the best guides for a successful Lent, leading to the glory of our Lord’s Passion and Resurrection six weeks hence. May we take seriously this holy time set aside for our benefit, putting an honest effort into the good demands that call us to “up our game,” not only making our dangerous world a better place to live for the time being, but also preparing ourselves for the joys our Lord Jesus has won for us in his Cross and Resurrection.