So, how's your Lent going so far?I made it to a Tridentine Ash Wednesday Mass at Holy Family in Columbus, Ohio this evening. What a beautiful liturgy & what a beautiful church! Perhaps the most beautiful part is a church full of folks - young, old, families, kids, young single folks - all there to repent of their sins & worship almighty God in spirit & truth. Amazing - considering it's in a language no one understands where the priest has his back to the people ;)
The homily touched on a few points useful for keeping in mind as our "severe penances" begin. We imitate each other all the time, usually in jest. We should, instead, imitate Christ - in his words (praising the Father, avoiding tearing others down), in his deeds (feeding the hungry, tending the sick), & also in his silences, esp. in prayer & in rejecting sin.
An interesting thought, this, that our greatest, most holy, & most lauded deed in imitation of Christ Jesus may be simply to keep silent in word or deed when our fallen inclination may want to do otherwise.
He stressed that imitating Jesus is not so hard, really, even though we fail all the time to do it, even when we try. God became man just for this reason. He gives us his Spirit to empower us to do it. What Jesus asks of us is not particularly hard, it's the rebellion of our fallen nature that makes us unable to do it on our own.
The priest also recalled our petty & legalistic Lenten rituals that observe the letter, but miss the spirit (& the Spirit). He recalled a Lent where in keeping the rule of the fast (1 regular meal w/o meat & 2 other small things that do not add up to a regular meal), he decided to have a big breakfast as his regular meal. Since he was still hungry at lunch time, he bent the rules a bit to make lunch his big meal, intending to do without supper. But when some friends came calling, he had a huge dinner. But, he laughed, he had kept the rule, because his dinner was bigger that his lunch & breakfast combined! However, he noted that in "keeping" the fasting rule, he completely blew the proscription against gluttony.
Perhaps as we toss out chocolate & whatever else this Lent, we should consider each of those things & why they are important to us in the first place. Find a spiritual purpose behind each one. And if you can't find a meaning, but are just doing it because that's what you always do, then don't give it up. Find something else that reflects those areas of your life in God on which you actually need to work. That, & go to Confession.
Here is the Pope's address for Lent, here is Abp. Chaput's reflection on the Pope's message, & here is a great reflection from Fr. Longenecker on how prayer, fasting, & almsgiving combat the world, the flesh, & the devil.
Good stuff. Plus it will take your mind off your grumbling stomach.
