How are your Lenten intentions going? And why do Catholics make sacrifices during Lent?
“Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley recently asked Father Charles Lachowitzer the question about sacrifices in an interview for the Feb. 19 episode. Father Lachowitzer is vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
The Lenten season is a movement to the cross of Good Friday, he said. “So, each of the things we do in fasting, almsgiving and prayer is to deepen our sense of the reality of being human beings. We are sinners. We know a world, or have experienced ourselves suffering other types of painful experiences that come with life, as well as death itself. And by entering right into that sadder part … of our humanity, we prepare ourselves for that cross of Good Friday.”
The more meaningful the things we choose during the Lenten season, the greater meaning it has on the cross, he said, “where we see that our little sacrifices were to help us understand the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.”
Conley said he feels a bit seasoned in Lenten practices, but asked Father Lachowitzer for suggestions about celebrating the Easter season.
“What I like to encourage, (and) I preach to myself first, is to set our hearts for the unfolding mystery,” Father Lachowitzer said. “I think each year, we can hear something new and go deeper into the mystery of the real presence in the person of Jesus Christ, deepening our hunger for and gratitude for the Eucharist.”
Sometimes, he said, it’s taking one of the virtues each week in the Easter season and seeing how, at Sunday Mass, that virtue takes on a greater importance in our lives. The same could be done with the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit or the seven sacraments, he said, “because all of them are being celebrated in the Easter season.”
Father Lachowitzer encouraged people not to be passive spectators.
“It is to be intentional and to know that the things that we’re doing, whether it be the virtues or the gifts of the Holy Spirit through the Easter season, God also will be working, unfolding a sense of the mystery of the Resurrection,” he said.
During the show, Father Lachowitzer explained why Catholics do not eat meat on Lenten Fridays and talked about his personal Lenten practices. To listen to the interview, tune in to the upcoming episode of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show at 9 p.m. Feb. 19, 1 p.m. Feb. 20 or 2 p.m. Feb. 21 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
“Practicing Catholic” is produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and broadcast on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
Other guest interviews on the Feb. 19 “Practicing Catholic” show are Mary Kristjanson and Bill Brady who discuss a Feb. 24 videoconference on youth hunger in Minnesota, and Dan Stokman, who describes the impact of the pandemic on mental health.
Listen to their interviews after they have aired:
