How is your Lent going? Have you remained committed to your intended fast and your added prayer? Have you continued giving alms to a group you support, by turning away from a luxury you typically enjoy and offering that money to someone in need?
We are now a couple weeks into Lent, and we still have several weeks to go to prepare ourselves for the great TriduumLet’s take a moment and review what is encouraged of us during Lent so we can get started again with enthusiasm and zeal, which in Greek means “hot enough to boil.”
The Lenten season dates to the second century when early Christians wore ashes on their forehead as a sign of repentance for sins. In the fourth century, following the Council of Nicaea, it was decided that six weeks prior to Easter, all Christians would be required to engage in fasting, additional prayer and almsgiving, beginning with Ash Wednesday. When Christians were administered ashes on their foreheads, this signified that they were earthly beings who sinned and needed repentance and reconciliation. They were professing their awareness of the temporality of this earthly life and that they were dust and to dust they will eventually return. This practice has continued to our day.
For those who were born before the Second Vatican Council of the mid-1960s, many remember not eating meat every Friday of the year, not just the Fridays of Lent. They also remember fasting for 12 hours before going to Communion, and women were not allowed to enter a Catholic Church without a head covering.
ACTION CHALLENGE
- Take time to recommit to your Lenten fast, prayer and almsgiving. Ask for the grace of the Holy Spirit to help you remain steadfast throughout this Lenten season.
- Become a beacon of light to others. Live your faith joyfully and with zeal.
While these practices were difficult, incorporating faith into everyday life now is much more challenging. Our culture has so thoroughly dismissed any trace of religion in our public sphere that it is as if it has evaporated entirely. We’ve even lost good manners. To see someone hold a door for others, to be polite or to pick up something dropped by accident is so foreign to us that we are often surprised when it happens. And yet, this level of decorum was standard a mere six decades ago.
Lent is our time to return to being attentive to all we do in our lives through the choices we make. Rather than scurrying along with little regard for others, we are encouraged to slow down, be true to our fast, include daily prayer, and give in a meaningful way to those who are struggling in some way. Our choice to help others does not need to be large to be impactful. We are called to care for our brothers and sisters, especially those who are hurting in some way, and to meet their needs in whatever way we are able. St. John XXIII states, “If we look upon the dignity of the human person in the light of divinely revealed truth, we cannot help but esteem it far more highly; for men are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, they are by grace the children and friends of God and heirs of eternal glory” (Pacem in Terris, art. 10).
Considering this, fasting during Lent helps us develop a hunger for righteousness, which means “right relationship,” or the right order of relationship with everyone in our lives. Prayer opens our hearts and souls to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Giving alms brings us into solidarity with those in need and allows us to be sojourners together.
So, I ask again, how is your Lent going? Today is the day to recommit to our Lenten fast, our pledge to daily prayer, and our promise to give joyfully to others to help restore their human dignity as children and friends of God. St. Matthew the Evangelist explained that we are to do this in private, without drawing attention to ourselves and any discomfort we may experience because of these practices. If we recommit to our Lenten journey, the promise of a beautiful Triduum awaits us. Let us prepare ourselves during this season of Lent for the coming of the Holy Spirit into our hearts and souls. Let’s make a consecrated space for his holy presence.
Soucheray is a licensed marriage and family therapist emeritus and a member of St. Ambrose in Woodbury. Learn more at her website, ifhwb.com.
