THE GIFT OF LENT
Lent and Holiness?
Lent is meant to help us increase our capacity to love - to grow in holiness - to advance along the path of becoming a saint. What is a saint? A person fully alive and filled with the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit - a person who is full of God's love. It is ultimately a call to mission because the gifts we receive are not meant to be kept to ourselves but to be shared with others. By allowing God to transform us and make us holy, we are more capable of truly helping others. This is where true joy comes from.
In the busyness of life it is easy to forget this goal or to think that holiness is only for nuns or priests and so we get off track or do not advance the way we could or should.
If the goal of holiness seems too far out of your reach then think of Lent as a chance to go deeper in your relationship with God. One of the things that interferes with that relationship is sin. When we fall into sin, we, and the people in our lives, suffer from the effects or consequences. This is where renewal through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and acts of penance come into the picture. These are opportunities for us to do our best to repair the damage our sins have caused. God is so merciful and so he is always providing opportunities for us to make up for our failures and get back on the right track. Lent is one of his gifts to help us with this and penance - prayer, fasting and almsgiving - is a big part of that. The result of our 40 day journey through this desert of Lent should be a new, deeper, intimacy with God and a greater capacity to be filled with his love (Romans 5:5) so that we can love others as he loves us. But...often, we find ourselves going back to the same old pathways of past Lents and end up not really making any progress in love.
The aim for this page is to put into your hands some new Lenten ideas to help you approach the season in a new way so Lent can become for you the experience of lasting change that it is intended to be; so you can advance on the journey to becoming the saint that God has created you to be. Scroll down to learn more.
What is the purpose of Lent?
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “the real aim of Lent is, above all else, to prepare men for Easter, to relive the celebration of the death and Resurrection of Christ…; the better the preparation, the more effective the celebration will be. One can effectively relive the mystery of Easter only with purified mind and heart. The purpose of Lent is to provide that purification by weaning men from sin and selfishness through self-denial and prayer, by creating in them the desire to do God’s will and to make His kingdom come by making it come first of all in their hearts.”
Following from this, it is also a preparation for each member of the Church to renew their baptismal promises thereby releasing or stirring up the gifts that were given to us by God when we received that sacrament.
This renewal is so important that, every year, the Church offers this opportunity on the greatest day of the year, Easter Sunday, at every Mass in every Catholic church in the world. The forty day preparation of Lent through prayer, fasting and almsgiving enables us to open our hearts for a new effusion of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is as if by practicing these three spiritual exercises (prayer, fasting & almsgiving), we are worshiping God with our body and soul and praying: Come, Holy Spirit, fill my heart and set it on fire with your love.
Lent is also the time that we walk with the catechumens as they prepare for the greatest event of their lives: receiving the sacrament of Baptism on Easter Vigil.
Videos about Lent and Fasting
THE BIBLICAL ROOTS OF ASH WEDNESDAY
In the video below, Dr. Pitre gives insight into the Biblical foundation for Ash Wednesday, as well as the rationale and purpose of the season of Lent. He addresses questions such as:
Why do you we use ashes?
Why are we asked of the Church to increase our fasting, prayer, and almsgiving during Lent?
Is Lent just about abstaining from a favorite food, or is there something more to it?
Lenten Reflection: Why Do We Pray, Fast & Give Alms?
During the season of lent, we are to increase our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. But why?
What is the Biblical basis for these practices and why these three actions specifically?
Check out Dr. Pitre's explanation above where he will show how the specific temptations of both Adam and Eve in the Garden and Jesus in the desert correspond to and are countered by these three practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Likewise, we are adjoining Jesus in his time in the desert through these actions in order to be like and follow the Master, the Teacher, the Lord, so as to detach ourselves from disordered desires for the good things in this world and attach ourselves more fully to the greatest good, God Himself.
LENT IS A SEASON OF PENANCE, NOT PUNISHMENT
Lent – it’s coming. That time of year when we temporarily do without chocolate, television, or soy chai lattes. And I should do this, why? Because God wants me to, right?
Wait, why does God want me to go without chocolate and caffeine?
To make more room for Him in my life.
Lent is a season of penance, even though we often make into a season of punishment. Here’s the thing: penance is meant for our good. We do penance (categorized as prayer, fasting, and almsgiving) so that we can rid ourselves of the things and habits that keep us from participating in the life of God, not so that we can be punished for our sins. Lent should be a time of joyful, if intense, purification and anticipation.
The Catechism tells us that penance is an important part of our ongoing conversion. Another way to say this is that penance is an important part of our deepening relationship with God. We do penance because we want to make more room for God in our lives, not because we’re trying to earn his love or ‘pay him back’ for our sins. Most of the time, when we plan our Lenten observances we arbitrarily choose to give up something we feel a bit attached to because we’re “supposed to,” rather than because we see it an integral aspect of our relationship with God. I’d like to suggest a different option.
For Lent this year, ask Jesus for a grace you want to receive at Easter, then ask him what kind of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving will make your heart most receptive to receive that grace.
God loves to give his children good gifts and it honors him when we ask! (See Matthew 7:11) This grace could be something you deeply desire, something you see lacking in your spiritual or moral life, or, best of all, you could ask Jesus what he most wants to give you.
To show you how this works in practice, let’s consider an example. You could ask: “Jesus, I want to receive the grace of hearing your voice more clearly in my life.” Then do something for Lent that will help open your heart to receiving that grace at Easter. Pretty simple! If you ask Jesus to be able to hear him more clearly, look at your life and consider what noise is drowning out the voice of Jesus. You might give up listening to music in the car or when you walk on campus. You could commit to an hour of silent prayer every day. You might have an especially negative friend who makes it so you doubt God’s call in your life; you could consider spending less time with that person for Lent. Another option might be giving up social media to silence the voices of advertisement and comparison in your mind. What matters is that your Lenten penance should prepare your heart to receive the gifts that God wants to pour out upon your life!
If you’re not convinced, or you’d really just prefer to give up chocolate for the 12th year in a row, let me share a Lenten story.
For the past two years, I’ve asked the Lord what graces He desires to give me for Lent and it has transformed the way I experience and enter into Holy Week. Last year, I asked Jesus, “Please give me the grace to trust you in every situation in my life.” It was a big, bold ask! I knew that Jesus was calling me to greater trust and I wanted to respond with generosity. In prayer, I identified a number of competing voices in my life that were telling me to trust them rather than Jesus, namely comparison and self-reliance. The voice of comparison had me constantly looking at others and asking, “Am I doing things right? Am I the right sort of person to meet my goals? Am I good enough? If I’m better than that person I’m probably good enough, right?” Self-reliance told me, “Of course you’re doing it right, and if you’re not, you can figure it out all by yourself. You can make yourself good enough.” When I felt overwhelmed by the pressure to measure up, I would distract myself with TV, music, and podcasts. Despite praying a holy hour every day, the rest of my life lacked enough silence for me to hear Jesus’ invitation to let him do the heavy lifting. I decided to go on a complete media fast: no TV, no social media, no music, and no podcasts. I wondered what I’d do with all my newfound free time!
I was pleasantly surprised to find that once I silenced all the noise in my life, Jesus was there, waiting to talk to me all the time, to hear all about my day, and to be an integral part of everything I was doing. He wanted me to know him more intimately so I could trust him more deeply. I spent my whole Lent with almost two extra silent hours per day where I got to talk to Jesus and listen to his words. When I came up against comparison and self-reliance, I suddenly found myself telling him all about it and my fears vanished. Once Holy Week came around, I was ready to walk with him to the Cross in trust. On Good Friday, as I went forward to adore the Cross I realized that the blood and water that flowed from the heart of Jesus were more than sufficient to overcome any deficiency I might experience in my life. I could trust God with every situation I might face. I was flooded with confidence in God’s loving, attentive plan for my life. God gave me the grace I asked for: I walked away from the Good Friday service with a newfound trust that was rooted in Jesus’ loving sacrifice on the Cross.
God wants to pour out graces and gifts in your life. Use this Lent as a time to make your heart ready to receive whatever he wants to give you.
Here are a few examples to consider when you go to prayer:
1. “Jesus, I want to experience your love for me in a new and transforming way.”
Pray[i] lectio divina or do Ignatian meditation with Jesus’ miracles every day for all of Lent
Pray with the 30 day prayer dare, repeating the prayers that are especially meaningful to you to make it last the duration of Lent
Read Father Gaitley’s 33 Days to Merciful Love (just take 40 days to do it)
2. “Jesus, I want to receive the gift of your peace rather than continuing to live in a spirit of anxiety.”
Give up social media as a way to free your heart from the voice of comparison
Begin and end your day with 5 minutes of giving thanks to God for all the good things he’s doing in your life
Write down 3 things you’re thankful for in the morning and 3 things in the evening
3. “Jesus, please give me the gift of heroic patience with people around me.”
Spend 10 minutes per day praying for your family, friends, and especially for individuals you find difficult to be around (Level up and pray a rosary for them every day!)
Commit to giving a specific, heartfelt compliment to one person every day
Deliberately choose the longest line at the grocery store and quietly pray for the people in line in front of you
Don’t use your phone when you’re waiting for an appointment, standing in line, or stopped at a stoplight – these little distractions have a way of making us feel like we deserve instant gratification and increase impatience
4. “Jesus, please give me the gift of deeper love for you.”
Every day, spend 10 minutes in the morning meditating on Jesus’ words in the Gospel.
Commit to a full hour of prayer every day (or a half hour, or any amount of time that is more than you pray right now)
Don’t listen to music for all of Lent so that you can spend more time talking with Jesus while you go through your day
Read a book about Mary and pray the rosary every day so that you can learn from her motherly love
5. “Jesus, please give me the gift of a heart that is self-emptying like yours.”
Commit to serving the poor once a week (or more) during Lent
Talk to the homeless you walk by every day -- commit to learning their names and saying hello when you see them
Give away some of your possessions “until it hurts” – and not just old ones you don’t use any more
Commit to a leadership position that requires you to make a gift of yourself: start a Bible study, invite a friend into Discipleship, or get involved in ministry
Let the Lord guide your Lent this year! God is waiting to give you new graces!
Original Source: focusoncampus.org/content/lent-is-a-season-of-penance
[i] Never prayed before? Be not afraid. Check out this article: https://focusoncampus.org/content/how-to-pray
What Is Mortification & What Does it Have to Do with Lent?
Dear Father John, What is “mortification” and how does it relate to Lent? What does Saint Paul mean in 1 Corinthians 9 where he says, “I pummel my body and subdue it…”? Is he talking about mortification?
The root word for “mortification” comes from the Latin, mors and mortis, and it translates as “death.” In the spiritual life, therefore, mortification refers to voluntary actions by which we gradually “put to death” all of our vices, sinful habits, and the self-centered tendencies that lurk beneath them. Spiritual writers use terms like abnegation, sacrifice, self-sacrifice, and self-denial to refer to the same thing.
Jesus spoke about mortification as an absolute necessity for growth into Christian maturity. Here are some of the better-known passages:
“If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
“In all truth I tell you, unless a wheat grain falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies it yields a rich harvest” (John 12:24).
“Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it” (Mark 8:35).
St Paul regularly emphasized this “best practice” of the spiritual life. Besides the passage you mention in your question, here are some other favorites:
“…[Y]ou must see yourselves as being dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11).
“You were to put aside [we could say “put to death] your old self, which belongs to your old way of life and is corrupted by following illusory desires. Your mind was to be renewed in spirit so that you could put on the New Man that has been created on God’s principles, in the uprightness and holiness of the truth”(Ephesians 4:22-24).
“…[W]e too, then, should throw off everything that weighs us down and the sin that clings so closely, and with perseverance keep running in the race which lies ahead of us” (Hebrews 12:1 – NB: many scholars are convinced that the book of Hebrews was not written by St Paul, but I include this quotation here anyway, for convenience).
It may seem like overkill to list so many quotations (and there are a lot more), but I do so because this is a hard concept for us to accept. A secular culture by definition seeks heaven on earth. According to that mindset, suffering of any kind is valueless and to be avoided – a far cry from the Christian pattern of death to sin (through voluntary self-denial) as a path to true life.
In [one of Pope Benedict’s messages for Lent], he explained the reason behind this pillar of Christian spirituality: “Freely chosen detachment from the pleasure of food and other material goods helps the disciple of Christ to control the appetites of nature, weakened by original sin, whose negative effects impact the entire human person.”
In other words, because God has chosen to redeem our fallen human nature, and not just replace it, his grace enters into our wounded, self-centered, sin-tending souls, and gradually transforms them (think of Jesus’ parable of the leaven in the dough). But since we are free, spiritual creatures (not just instinct-driven squirrels), we have to freely cooperate with his grace in order for this process to fully develop. One of the ways we do this is through freely denying ourselves certain pleasures that are not in themselves sinful, e.g. not listening to the radio for the first three minutes of a half-hour commute, offering the silence as an act of mortification, and maybe using it to pray. When we do that, we learn to govern our tendencies to pleasure and self-seeking (which are always waiting for opportunities to run wild); we tame them so that they are fruitful and not destructive, like a tamed stallion as opposed to a wild stallion. This self-governance helps creates interior order and peace, so that we can better hear and respond to God’s action in our lives. The mortification is never an end in itself, but a means by which we become better followers of Christ.
Spiritual writers have used many images to explain the value of mortification. Picture a jar full of very sour vinegar. You want to fill it up with sweet honey. First, you have to empty out the vinegar, and then scrub the inside of the jar, and only then can you put in the honey. Just so, to receive the many gifts of grace God wants to give us, we have to empty out and scrub clean every corner of our heart and mind otherwise the grace can’t get in. Think of a garden (as in Jesus’ parable of the sower). The soil is our fallen human nature, riddled and overgrown with poisonous weeds (vices, selfish tendencies, psychological and emotional wounds…). God comes and plants the seed of grace, the seeds of all the Christian virtues. We water those seeds through prayer and the sacraments. But we also need to pull up the weeds (and some of them have very deep roots) otherwise they will choke the growth of grace, and our virtues will end up looking like Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree.
OK, now let’s get practical. What does this have to do with Lent? The Church is a wise mother. She knows that we like to feast more than we like to fast, which is perfectly normal. But she also knows that if we don’t fast (practice mortification), we will get spiritually out of shape pretty quickly. So she has built into the liturgical year certain seasons when we focus a little bit more than usual on this aspect of our spiritual life – penitential days and seasons, like Lent. So, fasting (some form of mortification, voluntary self-denial) is a normal part of every Catholic’s Lenten journey; it gets us in shape for the holiest days of the year – Holy Thursday through Easter Sunday.
Each of us should choose some form of mortification (something that we notice, but not something that distracts us or overburdens us – balance and realism are important for a healthy spiritual life). In this way, we can unite our increased spiritual efforts to those of our Catholic brothers and sisters throughout the world, making this season a real family affair. Together we go with Jesus into the desert, where he spent 40 days practicing mortification, as a preparation for his public mission…
Yours in Christ,
Father John Bartunek
+Art for this post on mortification: San Francisco meditando de rodillas (St Francis meditating on his knees), El Greco, ca 1586-1592, PD-US author’s life plus 100 years or less, Wikimedia Commons.
Original Source: spiritualdirection.com/2018/03/01/what-is-mortification
Why the Cross?
Father Louis Bouyer
The cross stands at the end of any path which the Christian may take, even if it is true that it is always the resurrection that attracts him. It is an unavoidable fact that, whatever path the Christian feels called upon to take, sooner or later he cannot escape the necessity of giving up everything: himself, his loves, and his possessions, whatever they may be. Sooner or later everyone has to do this. Christianity itself cannot be blamed for this harsh necessity. It falls on all men equally.
To reproach Christianity with bringing the cross into men’s lives is to shut one’s eyes to the evidence. It had no need to do so; the cross was there already. Christianity did not put it there. But what Christianity alone could bring was a meaning for the cross. The Gospel alone adds to the necessity of the cross the promise of the resurrection. It does more: it teaches us how to make the cross the way to the resurrection. It enables us to look evil in the eye, because it makes us find in evil itself the means to overcome it. Consequently, what distinguishes the Christian from the non-Christian is not that he is vowed to the cross but that he has found the means to make the cross life-giving…
Not only the religious but every Christian must advance consciously towards the moment when, with Christ, he puts his spirit in the Father’s hands and gives up once and for all every earthly love, every earthly possession, even that of his own body. In any Christian life this last moment should not seem life a final failure, to which we must simply resign ourselves, with death in the soul, when effective resistance is no longer possible. On the contrary, in every Christian life, this moment of death should seem, as it was for Christ, the moment of final consummation. In other words, in every Christian life everything should lead to it. The great renunciations which some Christians feel called upon to make in advance are nothing more than means of liberation which make us more resigned to the greatest, the final, the real renunciations when God calls and leads us to them… In the last analysis the ascetic never gives up the things of this world in themselves; he only gives up ways of possessing them which carry within themselves the seeds of their own decay.
3-Step Action Plan for Lent
If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” – John 8:36.
About 26 years ago, I heard a priest give a life-changing homily about Lent. He told us to think of Lent as a time of spiritual renewal; a 40-day Spiritual Retreat that we get to experience with the entire Church; and because retreats are meant to be a special time of grace and intimacy with God, that is what we could hope to expect for our Lenten Journey as well. The only thing that is required is that we do “our part” in order to receive this blessing – we have to give him our five loaves and two fish.
What grace is God offering us during Lent?
This priest told us that the grace that God offers each one of us during Lent is the grace to grow in pure love by rooting out vice and growing in virtue. The means to this would be through a deeper intimacy with him. He suggested the following 3-Step Action Plan:
1st Step: Spend some time in prayer asking God what it is that he would like to eliminate from your life - something that stands in the way of loving him & others more selflessly.
2nd Step: Choose a virtue to work on that would help you in the battle against this vice or weakness
3rd Step: Choose one way to deepen your intimacy with God so that you could lean more on him for strength during this struggle.
Redemptive Suffering - Allowing God to use our discomfort to help other people
The priest also told us to “offer up” to God, as a prayer for others, the discomfort we experience as we struggle to eliminate this vice or weakness. This makes our struggle fruitful in two ways. First, when we “offer up” a difficulty to God - instead of succumbing to it - it is as if a wall has come down in our heart and we are giving him access to an area of our life that he was not able to come into before. Because he is present there now, we are not on our own and can draw from his strength and power to fight the difficulty. His strength begins exactly where our natural ability ends. Second, now that he is present, so is his self-sacrificing love, which we can tap into in order to offer up the difficulty as a prayer of intercession for others. In other words, He is present in our difficulty - we are now yoked with him - so that we can not only bear it patiently, but, we can go even further, and offer it up as an act of love for others.
After hearing this, I knew right away what God wanted me to do. I was a smoker at this time and I longed to be free of that addiction because it was definitely interfering in my role as a parent; but I also knew how difficult it was to quit. I had quit twice before only to start back up again.
As Lent was approaching, I begged the Lord to help me with this. I made the resolution to grow in the virtue of self-denial and to attend daily Mass as often as possible because I knew I would need to stay very close to God in order to kick this habit. As the priest suggested, I also made the resolution to “offer up” each craving as it came, for a specific person.
I will never forget what happened on Ash Wednesday. After I received Holy Communion, I had a thought enter my mind: “Your cravings will only last one minute.” I knew it was from God because up to that point I felt overwhelmed by the prospect of quitting because I thought that I would be craving cigarettes 24/7 for the rest of my life. The thought of each craving only lasting one minute gave me so much hope. As each craving came, I would watch the clock and, sure enough, each one was no more than 60 seconds; to top it off, the cravings came only about every 1.5-2 hours, which meant that in real time, I was craving a cigarette for a total of only 12-24 minutes each day instead of 24 hours continually.
I wrote my prayer intentions down in a notebook and as each craving came I would mark an X on the calendar and offer that specific urge to smoke up for a prayer intention on the list. It was hard at first, but by attending daily Mass, I was strengthened in my resolve to persevere. So many of my prayer requests were answered in obvious ways and I knew that God was using my “suffering” (my unsatisfied cravings) as intercession for others. It was a living sacrifice (Hebrews 12:1). This brought me so much joy.
Additionally, at the beginning of Lent, getting through each craving, one at a time, was all I could handle. I did not like the thought of never having another cigarette but by the end of Lent, I was thrilled by that prospect because God had even changed my desires. It has been 20 years and to this day, praise God, I have not had another cigarette. In John 8:36 he tells us that: “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
I don’t know for sure, because I am not a scientist or a medical professional, but maybe other addictive cravings that we experience are short-lived as well. Wouldn't that make the prospect of breaking a bad habit or rooting out a sinful vice a little less intimidating?
In summary - My 3-Step Plan for Lent (in 1997):
Vice to root out: addiction to cigarettes (Fasting)
Virtues to grow in: self-denial; intercession for others (Prayer & Almsgiving)
Means: Union with Christ through frequent reception of Holy Communion; Redemptive Suffering (Prayer & Almsgiving)
The Lents that have been the most fruitful for me personally are when I follow a 3-step plan like this instead of just a 40-day fast from something I will enjoy again when Lent is over.
What is it that you long to be free from? What grace do you think our Lord is offering you this Lent? You are not alone! He will be with you every step of the way. He will help you to formulate a plan for Lent that is perfectly suited to your life.
Forgiveness is given by being truly sorry for breaking the window. Penance is repairing the damage.
WHAT IS THE SACRAMENT OF CONFESSION?
The Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of the most unique and beautiful aspects of Catholicism. Jesus Christ, in His abundant love and mercy, established the Sacrament of Confession, so that we as sinners can obtain forgiveness for our sins and reconcile with God and the Church. The sacrament “washes us clean,” and renews us in Christ.
“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’” (John 20:21-23).
Experience Peace & Love
If you haven’t been to Confession in a while, the Catholic Church wants to welcome you back, and invites you to participate in this beautiful sacrament of healing. Take a step in faith. You’ll be surprised about how free you feel after taking part in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. So many Catholics describe incredible feelings of peace, joy, relief, and love that they never expected. Jesus is calling you to experience His mercy in this way too.
QUESTIONS (follow the live links below to a page on Catholics Come Home Website for answers - scroll down):
What are some benefits of going to Confession?
What are the different names for the sacrament and the effects of it?
How do I make a good confession?
Why should I confess to a priest?
THE FAR REACHING EFFECTS OF THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION
Sin is never an isolated event. It always affects other people. But the good news is that, not only do we ourselves receive grace and healing when we receive this sacrament, but so do the people we have hurt by our sins. Sometimes God gives us a glimpse of this. Press the button below for a testimony about this.
Videos about Confession & Lent
“Hey, what are you going to do for Lent?”
One day this kid comes up to me, Bert Martinez, and he goes, “Hey, what are you going to do for Lent?” I just said, “Oh, I’m going to give up meat or something.” He said, “Well, I’m going to go Mass every day.”
The Eucharist is so powerful, but we often don’t notice this. It seems that usually God transforms our hearts gradually at our pace over time.
This gentle approach helps to solidify our relationships with Him, as well.
I can personally attest that when I was a young freshman in college, I certainly had a very utilitarian viewpoint. I was looking for power, prestige, money, and getting my own way. But, I was a faithful Catholic. I was going to Mass on Sunday, and so forth.
One day this kid comes up to me, Bert Martinez, and he goes, “Hey, what are you going to do for Lent?” I just said, “Oh, I’m going to give up meat or something.”
He said, “Well, I’m going to go mass every day.”
I’m telling you, as the pure grace of the Holy Spirit, this was not on my mind. Suddenly, I think to myself, “If Martinez can do this, I can do this.”
Of course, I resolved I’d go to mass during Lent, and the Lord just gripped me. When I started going, there began that warmth, that peace, that sensitivity to just being hooked, as it were, on the Word of God, of just being at home, a spiritual at-homeness right in the middle of the world.
I was getting hooked. Lent was over, and I just kept right on going to mass every single day, never stopped, was completely hooked.
Then, people would tell me, at the end of one year, they’d say, “Spitzer, you’re really changing. You used to be a utilitarian bum, but, now, you have some kind of compassion and sentiment.” (see The Teeter Totter - below for more about this)
I’d literally tell them, “I think I’m still the same, utilitarian bum you used to know.” They’d go, “No, really you’re changed.” I was the last to see that I was literally being transformed in the heart of Christ by the Eucharist.
It was happening so subtly, it was like one of these Spitzerian diets. I get on the scale every five minutes. I want to see progress, because withholding food is so painful. The idea though is literally you’re not going to notice, because God’s always going to operate within your freedom.
But, every single time there’s that little moment of conversion when you receive the Eucharist. Every time you’re hearing the Word of God, and you get some new idea, and you start softening up.
He’s kind of wheedling in there with His Spirit, constantly wheedling, constantly coming in, cor ad cor loquitur, heart speaking to heart. He’s getting in there. He’s urging. He’s cajoling. He’s wheedling.
Of course, you wind up changing, and everybody recognizes it, and you’re the last to know.
This happened to me for three straight years of college. Finally, at one point, I started thinking, “My faith is the most important thing in my life. I wonder if I should be a priest… Aw, forget it, I’m going to get killed by my family if I do that.”
(Not by my whole family, I knew my mother would have loved it, leaped through the ceiling, she would have been so happy. My father was a little bit, shall we say, disappointed, and so forth.)
But, to make a long story short, I put it off, put it off. But, finally, it became irresistible. I just could not stop.
One day, I had an experience going to work, and the rest is history. I just decided to see Father O’Leary, the vocation director for the Jesuits, and, as they say, “Look at what happened to me.”
All because of the Eucharist.
See The Teeter Totter for more about the power of the Eucharist
THE TEETER TOTTER
We are all born with the effects of Original Sin in our souls which leave their mark by a proclivity to sin. We can see that most clearly in our disordered desires. Some examples would be: desiring junk food, over-eating, over-sleeping, over-drinking, spending too much money on frivolous things, gossip, base humor, feelings of superiority, judging other people, need for attention and admiration, lust, etc. All of this is further compounded by our personal sins which lead to sinful habits.
As we cooperate with the grace we receive from the Mass and the sacraments - especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation & in receiving the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Holy Communion (on a regular basis, in the state of grace and with an open heart) our disordered, worldly desires slowly but surely - gradually - change into God’s desires. Eventually, we don’t like sin any more and we desire holiness and goodness (see two videos below about the state of grace).
Eventually, our good desires become stronger than our disordered desires and it is our good desires that draw God’s grace into our souls more fully.
But...even the graces from Holy Mass and the sacraments can’t be enacted without the regular (daily) practice of mental prayer. Mental prayer - Christian Meditation - prepares our hearts for a fruitful reception of Holy Communion and it allows the grace we receive in Holy Communion to work more efficiently - to change our desires. It actualizes the grace we have received. It stirs it up so to speak. (see methods of mental prayer- "How to Meditate" below or here)
How does this happen? Spending time with God in prayer allows Him to work on our hearts & desires directly - in ways that are not detectable to our senses - but it also allows Him to work on our hearts and desires in ways that are detectable by showing us our disordered desires so that we can work on them together. In prayer God inspires us to make resolutions to practice the virtues that will change our hearts and our desires. As we go about our day, his grace helps us to complete the resolutions we have made and when we fail, it helps us to get back up and try again without giving into discouragement.
One thing we should keep in mind, however, is that we never completely lose our sinful desires while we exist on this side of death. But, we can make great strides in this battle, strides that exceed by far what the human will can accomplish on its own. We can become heroically virtuous people due to the effects of grace, especially the grace that we receive from Holy Communion combined with mental prayer.
Struggling to fight a sinful, disordered desire is very pleasing to God even if for the rest of our life we have to struggle with it - fighting manfully to overcome it. This struggle can be the very means for a deeper union with God as St. Paul taught us :
“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Cor. 12: 7-9)
Videos about The State of Grace
Meditation on the Mass Readings for the 2nd Sunday of Lent
Hope in Hardship - Abraham & the Transfiguration
Marcellino D'Ambrosio (Dr. Italy)
This post is also available in: Spanish
The call of Abraham and the Transfiguration of Jesus are presented to us on the 2nd Sunday of Lent because they teach us about how to approach hardship and suffering with faith and hope.
Imagine: you are ten years past customary retirement age. It’s time finally to kick back and relax. You live in a great city where everything is at your fingertips – shopping opportunities, cultural events, all your relatives and lifelong friends. Suddenly God appears and tells you to pack up, uproot your life, and march into an uncivilized wilderness.
Here is an excerpt from a Meditation on the Mass Readings from Ash Wednesday but it relates to the entire season of Lent
Meditation: Are you hungry for God and do you thirst for his holiness? God wants to set our hearts ablaze with the fire of his Holy Spirit that we may share in his holiness and radiate the joy of the Gospel to those around us. St. Augustine of Hippo tells us that there are two kinds of people and two kinds of love: "One is holy, the other is selfish. One is subject to God; the other endeavors to equal Him." We are what we love. God wants to free our hearts from all that would keep us captive to selfishness and sin. "Rend your hearts and not your garments" says the prophet Joel (Joel 2:12). The Holy Spirit is ever ready to transform our hearts and to lead us further in God's way of truth and holiness. Read the rest of the meditation by pressing the button below
Devoting our lives to God
Why did Jesus single out prayer, fasting, and almsgiving for his disciples? The Jews considered these three as the cardinal works of the religious life. These were seen as the key signs of a pious (godly) person, the three great pillars on which the good life was based. Jesus pointed to the heart of the matter. Why do you pray, fast, and give alms? To draw attention to yourself so that others may notice and think highly of you? Or to give glory to God? The Lord warns his disciples of self-seeking glory - the preoccupation with looking good and seeking praise from others. True piety is something more than feeling good or looking holy. True piety is loving devotion to God. It is an attitude of awe, reverence, worship and obedience. It is a gift and working of the Holy Spirit that enables us to devote our lives to God with a holy desire to please him in all things (Isaiah 11:1-2).
MATTHEW KELLY OFFERS GREAT ADVICE!
HOLINESS IS POSSIBLE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE EVERYDAY CIRCUMSTANCES OF OUR LIVES. Holiness is not just for nuns & priests. It is for everyone! Great inspiration for Lent:
Matthew Kelly from Dynamic Catholic Institute explains how holiness is possible for everyone and how EVERYTHING is an opportunity to grow in holiness.
Why not form the habit of practicing "Indulgences" during Lent and decrease the temporal consequences due to your sins in a extra efficacious way and, at the same time, grow in love for the Holy Souls in Purgatory?
An indulgence can be offered for oneself or for the Holy Souls in Purgatory but not for another living person.
Indulgences are a great gift of God’s mercy. They help to satisfy for the temporal punishment due to sins and can be gained for ourselves or for the souls in Purgatory. Indulgences are a wonderful way to effectively help our love ones who have died.
Many of us feel a sense of guilt after the death of someone close to us, wishing that we would have done things differently. Indulgences give us a chance to remedy that by helping them now in their current state. Many (probably most) of our loved ones didn’t have a chance to satisfy for the temporal punishment of their sins before they died; they might not have even realized that they needed to, and, on top of that, the souls in Purgatory cannot help themselves – they are not in a position to merit any longer - so they need our help.
Indulgences offer us a wonderful incentive to make our entire day into a prayer – an offering of love. There are indulgences for specific prayers; for fulfilling our daily duties to the best of our ability and bearing difficulties of life in a Christian spirit. There are indulgences for acts of charity and for acts of penance.
I try to offer every prayer, work, joy, sorrow and suffering; every difficultly―traffic, weather, rudeness from other people, difficult situations at work, headache, etc.―as an indulgence by bearing each one patiently, doing my best and offering each one with love to God.
MORE ABOUT INDULGENCES
The Church & Indulgences
When we think of indulgences, many of us think of an outdated and unfair Church practice that alienated many Catholics and sparked the Reformation centuries ago. In this video, Fr. Mike Schmitz sets things straight, explaining how indulgences are an offering of God’s grace—a way to remove the temporal consequences of sin. Even though Christ forgives our sins, we are still wounded by sin in this life. The Church offers indulgences as a sort of spiritual therapy as we recover from those wounds.
5 Ways the Devil Attacks During Lent
Feeling more temptation than usual? 'Tis the season, and here's how to recognize and respond to it"
by SR. THERESA ALETHEIA NOBLE
The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on him.” – Job 1:12
I don’t know about you but ever since I returned to the Church, I tend to feel like Job during Lent. I feel like God lets the devil a bit off his leash and things tend to get chaotic in my spiritual life!
Jesus was tempted in the desert. And Lent is a time of desert. According to the Catechism, during “the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.” So it makes sense that we might feel more temptation in this time as well. But God does not allow anything that he cannot use for good; he can even use temptation and attacks from the devil for our conversion, transformation and holiness.
Here are some attacks that I have come to recognize and the responses that I have found helpful. Have you experienced any of these temptations this Lent?
1. The Temptation to Distraction
Purity of heart is to will the one thing. — Søren Kierkegaard Lent can very quickly become about doing way too many things or nothing at all. The devil wants us to either drown in penances or feel discouraged right away and give up. The thing is that Lent should be about God, not our activities, as well intentioned as they may be.
It is better to ask God to help us focus on one key thing during Lent, and then despite our failures, ask him for the grace to persevere.
2. The Temptation to Judge
It was pride that changed angels into devils;it is humility that makes men as angels— Saint Augustine
If we are naturally more disciplined or strong willed than those around us, there is a temptation to spend Lent patting ourselves on the back and comparing ourselves favorably to others. This is exactly what the devil wants. He wants us to think we are better than other people and to grow in pride, which is precisely what we should repent of during Lent.
If we have this tendency, or are experiencing it this Lent, the best antidote is to choose a penance that is absolutely impossible to achieve perfectly and that challenges our tendency toward pride. This helps us to realize that Lent is not about being perfect, type A, judgers. It is about realizing that even with the natural gifts that God has given us, we are still sinful and very much in need of grace.
3. The Temptation to Self Improvement
Lent can very quickly become only about losing weight or ending some bad habit that has become an irritation in our lives, rather than growing close to God. And the devil would love for Lent to be all about us. But this is not what Lent is about.
As Father Anthony Gerber pointed out in an excellent post on this subject: “Lent is … about failing miserably—about you reaching that third week of doing the difficult, of choosing the nails and thorns of love… But then denying Jesus for a few pieces of silver, of comfort, of selfish, selfish self love. And in that moment, you’re going to be brought to your knees and you’re going to lift your arms to the heavens and say, ‘Lord, I cannot do this by myself! Lord, help me! I’m so bad at love!’”
We are usually good at loving ourselves, and bad at loving others. This is why it’s important to choose penances that will help us to grow in selfless love.
4. The Temptation to Division
Where does division come from? The devil! Division comes from the devil. Flee from internal struggles, please! — Pope Francis
Division is one of the devil’s favorite tools in his toolbox. He just loves to get between Christians and cause rivalries, confusion, jealousies, anger, and paranoia. The devil wants us to look at other Christians and see the enemy rather than recognizing that the only real enemy among us is the devil (and ourselves when we let him work on us).
So, of course, during Lent the devil may try to incite division among Christians in our homes, in our parishes, and even online. If you read material online from various sources, a good question during Lent (and really at any time) would be: “Does this material help me to love my fellow Christians more, or does it lead to division?”
Recently deceased Supreme Court justice and faithful Catholic, Antonin Scalia, once said: “I attack ideas. I don’t attack people.” This is a sign of character. And it is a distinction that is increasingly lost in our society. If what you are reading or writing online focuses on attacking people rather than working for unity in Christian love, it may be the tool of the devil to keep you (and others) from growing in the spiritual life.
5. The Temptation to Discouragement
Temptations, discouragement, and unrest are the wares offered by the enemy. – St. Padre Pio
The devil likes nothing more than to make us as miserable as he is. And he knows that if we are feeling discouraged we are likely to be less cooperative with God’s grace.
So, during Lent the devil can tempt us to feel like giving up on living the penitential spirit of the season. He can make us feel like we are constantly failing and just no good at this. The thing is – no one is “good” at Lent. If you think you are, you are not choosing the right penances. So, when we feel discouraged, it is an opportunity to thank God with loud shouts of joy for saving us from our mediocrity and sin. It makes no sense to be lost in discouragement if we really believe the Gospel message. Even in Lent, we know that Jesus has died, yes, but he has also risen, and joy and grace is available now for us to be transformed. And thank God for that!
### There are many more ways the devil can attack during Lent. And there are many ways to fight back.
5 Ways the Devil Attacks During Lent (aleteia.org)
ALMSGIVING IS A NATURAL CONSEQUENCE OF A HEART THAT IS FILLED WITH GOD'S LOVE BECAUSE HIS LOVE IS SELF GIVING BY ITS VERY NATURE. HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR WAYS TO PRACTICE ALMSGIVING EFFECTIVELY:
Make Lent awesome with Sister Lucia - 1st Week
“Whenever you make some sacrifice, say:
O Jesus, it is for love of you,
for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for the sins
committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
Sister Lucia of Fatima gives numerous examples of penance and self-denial that can be adopted for these 40 days of Lent. She lived every day, offering many little sacrifices and saying frequently the prayer above that Our Lady taught the three shepherd children.
Throughout these days of austerity and atonement, let us look at how Sister Lucia suggests we live out the Fatima message, which is the Gospel message itself. Then, following in her footsteps, we can begin to adopt a spirit of prayer and penance that goes beyond the 40 days of Lent, so that it becomes a natural part of our daily life in intimate communion with God, offered for the sake of sinners.
(Sister Lucia’s comments are in italics from her book, “Calls” from the Message of Fatima):
Repent of habitual sins
Our faith calls us to trust in God and to follow His commandments as a sign of our love for Him. In returning to God and His commandments this Lent, Sister Lucia reminds us: Our love must, too, must be self-sacrificing. To begin with, we must avoid whatever might cause us to sin grievously against God or our neighbor; in other words, we must not disobey God’s law in any grave matter. Then, we must also deny ourselves anything that might cause us to offend God or our neighbor in less serious matters, in other words by venial sin…The Kingdom of Heaven is won by those who deny themselves, doing battle with themselves to conquer their evil inclinations, the temptations of the world…in order to keep strictly to the path of justice, truth and love.
Forgive others as you have been forgiven
The Lord’s Prayer reminds us that we cannot obtain God’s pardon unless we ourselves first forgive our brothers and sisters. It follows that we must not harbor resentment, ill-will, dislike, and still less, a desire to avenge any offense, whether great or small, that one or other of our neighbors may have committed against us. Our forgiveness must be generous, complete and self-sacrificing, in the sense of overcoming ourselves. It will be necessary to grasp the reins of our own temper and keep a lid on the heat of our wounded self-love which, whether rightly or wrongly, feels bruised and irritated.
Seek intimate communion with God
The Angel of Peace reminded the three children of Fatima to “pray, pray very much,” reflecting the Gospel message of Jesus to “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Mt. 26, 41). Sister Lucia reminds us that we can be in intimate communion with God in simple ways all day long:
In carrying out our everyday tasks, we must endeavor to be aware of God’s presence: call to mind that God and our Angel Guardian are close to us, see what we are doing and in what frame of mind we are doing it. Knowing that God is present, it is enough to call Him to mind and from time to time say a few words to Him, whether of love – “I love you, Lord!” or of thanksgiving – “Thank you, Lord, for all your benefits,” or of petition, “Lord, help me to be faithful to You…”, or of praise, “I bless you, Lord, for your greatness…” This intimate and familiar converse with God transforms our work and our daily occupations into a true and abiding life of prayer, making us more pleasing to God and bringing down upon us extra special graces and blessings.”
Practice self-denial for the sake of sinners
Our daily lives are filled with opportunities to offer sacrifices to God. At times it is the cross of our daily work; at other times the difficulties of life that we must accept with serenity, patience and resignation. Still other times, those humiliations and self-revelations that occur, when we must accept and acknowledge what is imperfect in us and amend ourselves with confidence in God’s loving help.
Here are five ways of self-denial that Sister Lucia says anyone can do to take up their cross every day and follow Jesus: It is our generosity in ordinary little things that are constantly happening; it is to make perfect the present moment”:
Make time for prayer with faith and attention, avoiding distractions, praying respectfully, remembering that we are speaking to God; therefore, praying with confidence and love, knowing that He wants to help us. Our prayer must be humble and accompanied by a spirit of sacrifice. Many times it will be necessary to sacrifice a little of our time for relaxation for prayer, getting up earlier in order to go to church and pray, setting aside time before bed to pray the Rosary, turning off the radio or television in order to do so. It is the renunciation of our own likes and fancies that God requires of us.
Offer God the sacrifice of some little act of self-denial in the matter of food, but not to the extent of impairing the physical strength we need in order to do our work. For example, to choose a fruit, a dessert, a drink that we don’t particularly like rather than one we do; to endure thirst for a while, to abstain from alcohol, to choose healthy foods over those not as good for us.
The sacrifice that we can and must make in the matter of clothing: Putting up with a little cold or heat without complaining; dressing modestly without becoming enslaved to the latest fashion, bearing in mind that we are responsible for the sins that others commit because of us.
Cheerfully enduring without complaint whatever little annoyances we may encounter in our day. Sometimes, it may be the company of someone disagreeable or irritating, an unpleasant word, an ironic smile, a look of disdain, a contradiction, or that we are passed over as of no account, forgotten, misunderstood, reproofed, rejected or treated with ingratitude.
Exterior prayers and penances include the days of fast and abstinence imposed by the church. Penances imposed on ourselves to suffer with Christ might be to pray in a spirit of penance with one’s arms outstretched in the form of a cross, or to pray prostrate with one’s forehead touching the ground, lowering ourselves before God whom we have offended.
Making such little sacrifices enriches us with grace, strengthens us in faith and charity, ennobles us before God and our neighbor, and frees us from the temptation to egoism, covetousness, envy and self-indulgence.
Remember, whenever you make some sacrifice, recite the little prayer that Mary taught the children:
O Jesus, it is for love of you, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
May your Lenten journey draw you closer to God for the sake of His kingdom and for those souls who have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them.
Lent with Lucia – “Pray, pray very much” - 2nd Week
“We know how weak we are, that we slip back and fall…
We can only acquire the strength we need,
the strength that comes to us from grace,
when our soul meets with God in prayer.” Sister Lucia
At the time of the apparitions of the Angel of Peace, the three shepherd children of Fatima could not even begin to imagine that the call to prayer by the Angel, “Pray, pray very much,” was not only for them, but for the whole of humanity. Being just 9 (Lucia), 8 (Francisco) and 6 (Jacinta), they were far from understanding the full meaning of the apparitions.
Sister Lucia would later write: Today, I look upon this call as a pointer to the way marked out by God for his creatures since the beginning of creation. In fact, in both the Old and the New Testament, which contain the Word of God, we find the path God mapped out for humanity very clearly marked.
Unfortunately, however, human beings have, on the whole, disregarded the end for which they were created. They ignore the existence of God their Creator, they do not know the holy name of God, whom they have never called Father, and they do not know the way they are to follow in order to be happy one day in their Father’s house. (“Calls” from the Message of Fatima)
Sister Lucia goes on to say that we must endeavor to reproduce in ourselves, Jesus Christ, so that on the day of our death when our soul goes to meet the Father, He may see in us the features of Christ and welcome us as His children into His Kingdom.
This shows our great need for prayer, for drawing close to God in prayer. It is by prayer that we secure pardon for our own sins, the strength to persevere on the path of God’s will and the grace to resist the temptations of the world, the devil and the flesh. We are very weak; without this strength we could never win through. Jesus, himself, urged His disciples: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mt 26:41).
There are many ways of praying, of meeting God in prayer. The most important is that you do so daily and decide the best way that helps you remain in intimate contact with God. Obviously, participating in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the greatest prayer we can offer the Father; and Eucharistic adoration is a powerful way to show our love and adoration for God alone. But aside from these opportunities, Lucia suggests the following prayer forms:
Vocal prayer – Addressing God in words, either those that well up spontaneously from the heart or through existing formulas: the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, the Creed, for example. Praying the Our Father is the most sublime form of vocal prayer because it was taught to us by the Son of God himself. So we must pray it with renewed devotion, confidence, humility and love.
Prayer of our work – Offering to God the performance of all our duties in our state in life, in humble submission to the will of God. In this way, our seemingly insignificant everyday occupations will be a prayer of praise, thanksgiving, repentance and petition. Throughout our day, we must endeavor to be aware of God’s presence and from time to time say a few words to Him.
Mental prayer (meditation) – Placing ourselves in the presence of God in order to reflect on a Scripture passage, a mystery of the Rosary, a virtue, Our Lady, the saints. (Most spiritual directors recommend 15 minutes a day of mental prayer). This prayer is very advantageous if we make it well. In order to do so, we have to talk to God about the subject on which we are meditating; look at ourselves in order to see what we lack in order to grow in the virtue needed, for example, an increase in faith, humility, charity or a spirit of sacrifice. All of this is accomplished in an intimate conversation with the Lord, discussing everything with Him, confident that it is He who will give us the light, grace and strength to remain faithful to the end.
The Prayer of the Rosary – At Fatima, Our Lady asked for this meditative prayer specifically every day. Why did she ask for this? Because to pray the Rosary is something everybody can do no matter what their state in life, in common or private, in the home or Church, by oneself or with family, while driving or walking. After the liturgical prayer of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the prayer of the Rosary is the most pleasing prayer we can offer to God, and one which is most advantageous to our souls. It places us in contact with God through mental prayer – by meditating on the life of Christ – and it imitates how Mary communed with God, by “keeping all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” This kind of regular practice of mental prayer can lead us to the prayer of contemplation.
Prayer of contemplation – This consists of an even closer intimacy with God in which those practicing it enter more deeply into the presence of God within them, abandoning themselves to the work of the grace, light and love of God within them. God can certainly grant this grace to a person without any effort on the person’s part, but ordinarily the Lord waits for the soul to reach this point by being faithful to the paths of vocal and mental prayer, because it is by this way that the soul is purified and lets go of the things of earth in order to entrust itself to God alone.
In conclusion, prayer is necessary for all and we must all pray, whether our prayer is vocal, mental or contemplative. And, as Jesus told us, without Him we can do nothing. Therefore, we can only acquire the strength we need, the strength that comes to us from grace, when our soul meets with God in prayer.
(This reflection is based on Sister Lucia’s writings in “Calls from the Message of Fatima.)
Follow our Lent with Lucia series here and have an awesome Lent!
Spending Lent With Mary
SARAH REINHARD
This article is from: http://catholicexchange.com/lent-with-mary
She’s not a distant figure from two thousand years ago. She’s not a woman on a pedestal in my parish church. She’s not an image of perfection that’s impossible to attain.
Instead, she’s covered in dust and shaking with silent sobs. Her hands are clasped, and perhaps the only prayer she can find words to is the line from Psalm 13: “How long must I carry sorrow in my soul, grief in my heart day after day? How long will my enemy triumph over me?”
This isn’t a woman who’s been protected from life and sheltered from reality.
Here’s someone who has learned to feed her family, bear single parenthood, juggle the demands of her Son’s mission while staying out of the limelight herself, and has faced torture and grief in ways none of us can appreciate.
Who better to turn to, this Lent, than Mary?
Try a new devotion. Maybe you have less than five minutes each day for the Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin, which is easily prayed on your fingers during a shower. Perhaps the novena (nine day prayer) to the Virgin Mary as the Undoer of Knots speaks to the challenges you face or intentions you hold dear.
It might just be a one-line prayer, asking for Mary’s help, like the one I use on certain days of the week: “Mother Mary, guide me to Jesus, lead me to God, HELP ME RIGHT NOW!”
Or maybe you’ve never really done much in the way of asking Mary to intercede for you and your intentions. Start with a Hail Mary at some repeatable point in the day–when you’re going upstairs, when you brush your teeth, when you close or open a door.
Whatever you choose, don’t overwhelm yourself. Let your devotion grow, watered by the habit of doing it daily. Devotion to Mary can draw us deeper into the life of Christ, if we let it, and help us participate in His life.
Bless the ordinary tasks and mundane moments. Whether it’s dishes or diapers, phone calls or filing, spreadsheets or silence, your day can be blessed with more of Mary. You don’t have to free your hands, but it might lighten your load.
How about memorizing part of one of the Psalms? Mary must have prayed the Psalms as a devout Jewish girl and woman. Try using it as the refrain for those moments when you’re most tempted to throw up your hands in frustration.
While you’re doing that repeatable task you most hate, offer a decade of the rosary for the souls in Purgatory, your family, or some intention that’s close to your heart. When you find yourself rolling your eyes at the “excitement” of your day (whether or not it deserves the quotes), offer a pause and a Hail, Holy Queen for whatever the source of your stress.
Life is composed more of the ordinary and mundane than it is the exciting and overwhelming. We have far more laundry than drama over the course of our lives. There’s no reason, though, that we can’t bless those times and gain deeper spiritual advancement from them.
Ask for her help. There is no shortage of online resources, no lack of books, no absence of ideas. And here is where I find my weakness: the desire to do too much.
I can always find that “one more thing” that will make my Lent just “perfect.” If I’m honest with myself, though, the real perfection in Lent doesn’t come from me at all.
Ask Mary to help you as you continue through your Lent. She will. In fact, if you pay attention, she probably already has.
Unfortunately, however, human beings have, on the whole, disregarded the end for which they were created. They ignore the existence of God their Creator, they do not know the holy name of God, whom they have never called Father, and they do not know the way they are to follow in order to be happy one day in their Father’s house. (“Calls” from the Message of Fatima)
Sister Lucia goes on to say that we must endeavor to reproduce in ourselves, Jesus Christ, so that on the day of our death when our soul goes to meet the Father, He may see in us the features of Christ and welcome us as His children into His Kingdom.
This shows our great need for prayer, for drawing close to God in prayer. It is by prayer that we secure pardon for our own sins, the strength to persevere on the path of God’s will and the grace to resist the temptations of the world, the devil and the flesh. We are very weak; without this strength we could never win through. Jesus, himself, urged His disciples: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mt 26:41).
There are many ways of praying, of meeting God in prayer. The most important is that you do so daily and decide the best way that helps you remain in intimate contact with God. Obviously, participating in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the greatest prayer we can offer the Father; and Eucharistic adoration is a powerful way to show our love and adoration for God alone. But aside from these opportunities, Lucia suggests the following prayer forms:
Vocal prayer – Addressing God in words, either those that well up spontaneously from the heart or through existing formulas: the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, the Creed, for example. Praying the Our Father is the most sublime form of vocal prayer because it was taught to us by the Son of God himself. So we must pray it with renewed devotion, confidence, humility and love.
Prayer of our work – Offering to God the performance of all our duties in our state in life, in humble submission to the will of God. In this way, our seemingly insignificant everyday occupations will be a prayer of praise, thanksgiving, repentance and petition. Throughout our day, we must endeavor to be aware of God’s presence and from time to time say a few words to Him.
Mental prayer (meditation) – Placing ourselves in the presence of God in order to reflect on a Scripture passage, a mystery of the Rosary, a virtue, Our Lady, the saints. (Most spiritual directors recommend 15 minutes a day of mental prayer). This prayer is very advantageous if we make it well. In order to do so, we have to talk to God about the subject on which we are meditating; look at ourselves in order to see what we lack in order to grow in the virtue needed, for example, an increase in faith, humility, charity or a spirit of sacrifice. All of this is accomplished in an intimate conversation with the Lord, discussing everything with Him, confident that it is He who will give us the light, grace and strength to remain faithful to the end.
The Prayer of the Rosary – At Fatima, Our Lady asked for this meditative prayer specifically every day. Why did she ask for this? Because to pray the Rosary is something everybody can do no matter what their state in life, in common or private, in the home or Church, by oneself or with family, while driving or walking. After the liturgical prayer of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the prayer of the Rosary is the most pleasing prayer we can offer to God, and one which is most advantageous to our souls. It places us in contact with God through mental prayer – by meditating on the life of Christ – and it imitates how Mary communed with God, by “keeping all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” This kind of regular practice of mental prayer can lead us to the prayer of contemplation.
Prayer of contemplation – This consists of an even closer intimacy with God in which those practicing it enter more deeply into the presence of God within them, abandoning themselves to the work of the grace, light and love of God within them. God can certainly grant this grace to a person without any effort on the person’s part, but ordinarily the Lord waits for the soul to reach this point by being faithful to the paths of vocal and mental prayer, because it is by this way that the soul is purified and lets go of the things of earth in order to entrust itself to God alone.
In conclusion, prayer is necessary for all and we must all pray, whether our prayer is vocal, mental or contemplative. And, as Jesus told us, without Him we can do nothing. Therefore, we can only acquire the strength we need, the strength that comes to us from grace, when our soul meets with God in prayer.
(This reflection is based on Sister Lucia’s writings in “Calls from the Message of Fatima.)
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