“These 40 days of Lent, O Lord, with You we fast and pray, Teach us to discipline our wills, and close by You to stay.”
These words of a famous Lenten hymn set the scene for this six-weekslong liturgical season dedicated to prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
The path to Easter Sunday’s empty tomb first passes through Calvary. If we are to rise with Christ, then we must die with him. Our anger, pride, lust, greed, envy, gluttony and sloth must be nailed to the Savior’s cross before we can be fully liberated from Satan’s snares.
Good habits begun during Lent under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit can stay with us throughout the rest of the year. Try these laudable projects.
1) Plunge into the Old Testament. Although we can be intimidated by the Old Testament because of its length, the cultures it describes, etc., it prepared those who were waiting for the coming of Christ with the restoration from sin and death that only comes through Jesus. The Prophet Ezekiel wrote: “Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed against Me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God; so turn, and live” (18:31-32). Such a message is closely connected to the words of Our Lord: “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15).
2) Offer your will to Christ. “I will attempt day by day to break my will into pieces. I want to do God’s holy will, not my own.” This motto for daily living was expressed by Francesco Possenti (1838-62), known in the religious life as Brother Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother, whose feast is Feb. 27. St. Gabriel’s love for Jesus and Mary as well as his continual surrender to the divine plan is a pattern for us. Frequent reception and adoration of the most Blessed Sacrament emboldens our adherence to Jesus.
3) See in the virtue of temperance a way to freedom. Temperance, one of the four cardinal virtues, helps to regulate our consumption of food and drink. But it is also concerned with our “attachment” to these items. St. Joseph Cafasso (1811-60) served as the rector of the Ecclesiastical College in Turin, Italy. In his dealings with the seminarians, he frequently exhorted them to be careful about how they approached the table. St. Joseph warned that overeating was not the only fault regarding food. He frequently mentioned the five failings of the table: eating infrequently, eating too quickly, eating too much, eating over-eagerly and eating over-deliberately.
4) Receive indescribable mercy often from Our Lord in the confessional. In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul declared that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:23). The Council of Trent (1545-63) taught that Jesus Christ instituted the sacrament of penance for the forgiveness of sins — especially mortal sins — committed after one has received the sacrament of baptism. But going to confession is appropriate even for those who have no mortal sins to confess. St. John Paul II (1978-2005), in his 1984 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Reconciliatio et Paenitentia,” acknowledged that while there are various ways that venial sins are forgiven, “great importance must continue to be given to teaching the faithful also to make use of the sacrament of penance for venial sins alone, as is borne out by a centuries-old doctrinal tradition and practice” (32).
5) Imitate the sinless ever-Virgin Mother of God in her pilgrimage to Calvary. Our Lady’s absolute confidence in her Son never wavered even as she walked along the Via Dolorosa — the Sorrowful Way in Jerusalem — that led to the place of Christ’s crucifixion. In the Sorrowful Mysteries of Mary’s rosary, we begin to understand more deeply that the death of Jesus necessarily precedes his glorious resurrection. For us, too, our death is required before we live with God forever in heaven.
Lent is an oasis of opportunities for spiritual growth. Let us accept each one, opening ourselves to the transformation that the suffering Jesus holds out to us.
Msgr. Mangan is on the faculty of Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg.
Pentecost Sunday