Pope Benedict XVI on Christ’s Sacrifice

Following is a Vatican translation of an address delivered by Pope Benedict XVI to the priests of Rome:

 

MEETING WITH THE PARISH PRIESTS OF THE DIOCESE OF ROME

"LECTIO DIVINA" OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

Hall of Blessings
Thursday, 18 February 2010

 
 

Your Eminence, 
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,

It is always a very joyful as well as an important tradition for me to be able to begin Lent with my Presbyterium, the Priests of Rome. Thus, as the local Church of Rome but also as the universal Church, we can start out on this essential journey with the Lord towards the Passion, towards the Cross, the Easter journey.

Let us meditate this year on the passages from the Letter to the Hebrews that have just been read. The Author of this Letter introduced a new way of understanding the Old Testament as a Book that speaks of Christ. The previous tradition had seen Christ above all, essentially, in the key of the Davidic promise, the promise of the true David, of the true Solomon, of the true King of Israel, the true King since he was both man and God. And the inscription on the Cross truly proclaimed this reality to the world: now there is the true King of Israel, who is King of the world, the King of the Jews hangs on the Cross. It is a proclamation of the kingship of Jesus, of the fulfilment of the messianic expectation of the Old Testament which, at the bottom of their hearts, is shared by all men and women who await the true King who will bring justice, love and brotherhood.

However, the Author of the Letter to the Hebrews discovered a citation which until then had gone unnoticed: Psalm 110 [109]: 4 "You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek". This means that not only does Jesus fulfil the Davidic promise, the expectation of the true King of Israel and of the world, but he also makes the promise of the real Priest come true. In a part of the Old Testament and especially in Qumran there are two separate lines of expectation: of the King and of the Priest. In discovering this verse, the Author of the Letter to the Hebrews realized that the two promises are united in Christ: Christ is the true King, the Son of God in accordance with Psalm 2: 7, from which he quotes but he is also the true Priest.

Thus the whole of the religious world, the whole reality of sacrifices, of the priesthood that is in search of the true priesthood, the true sacrifice, finds in Christ its key, its fulfilment. And with this key it can reinterpret the Old Testament and show precisely that also the religious law abolished after the destruction of the Temple was actually moving towards Christ. Hence it was not really abolished but renewed, transformed, so that in Christ all things might find their meaning. The priesthood thus appears in its purity and in its profound depth.

In this way the Letter to the Hebrews presents the theme of the priesthood of Christ, of Christ the priest, at three levels: the priesthood of Aaron, that of the Temple; Melchizedek; and Christ himself as the true priest. Indeed, the priesthood of Aaron, in spite of being different from Christ's priesthood, in spite of being, so to speak, solely a quest, a journey in the direction of Christ, is nevertheless a "journey" towards Christ and in this priesthood the essential elements are already outlined. Then Melchizedek we shall return to this point who is a pagan. The pagan world enters the Old Testament. It enters as a mysterious figure, without father or mother the Letter to the Hebrews says it simply appears, and in this figure can be seen the true veneration of the Most High God, of the Creator of the Heavens and of the earth. Thus the pagan world too experiences the expectation and profound prefiguration of Christ's mystery. In Christ himself everything is recapitulated, purified and led to its term, to its true essence.

Let us now look at the individual elements concerning the priesthood as best we can. We learn two things from the Law, from the priesthood of Aaron, the Author of the Letter to the Hebrews says: if he is truly to be a mediator between God and man, a priest must be man. This is fundamental and the Son of God was made man precisely in order to be a priest, to be able to fulfil the priest's mission. He must be man we shall come back to this point but he is unable, on his own, to make himself a mediator for God. The priest needs divine authorization, institution, and only by belonging to both spheres the divine and the human can he be a mediator, can he be a "bridge". This is the priest's mission: to combine, to link these two realities that appear to be so separate, that is, the world of God far from us, often unknown to the human being and our human world. The priest's mission is to be a mediator, a bridge that connects, and thereby to bring human beings to God, to his redemption, to his true light, to his true life.

As the first point, therefore, the priest must be on God's side. Only in Christ is this need, this prerequisite of mediation fully brought about. This Mystery was therefore necessary: the Son of God is made man so that he may be the true bridge for us, the true mediation. Others must have at least an authorization from God, or in the Church's case, the Sacrament, that is they must introduce our being into the being of Christ, into divine being. Only with the Sacrament, this divine act that makes us priests in communion with Christ, can we accomplish our mission. And this seems to me a first point for our meditation: the importance of the Sacrament. No one can become a priest by himself; God alone can attract me, can authorize me, can introduce me into participation in Christ's mystery; God alone can enter my life and take me by the hand. This aspect of divine giving, of divine precedence, of divine action that we ourselves cannot bring about and our passivity being chosen and taken by the hand by God is a fundamental point we must enter into. We must always return to the Sacrament, to this gift in which God gives me what I will never be able to give; participation, communion with divine being, with the priesthood of Christ.

Let us also make this reality a practical factor in our life: if this is how it is, a priest must really be a man of God, he must know God intimately and know him in communion with Christ and so we must live this communion; and the celebration of Holy Mass, the prayer of the Breviary, all our personal prayers are elements of being with God, of being men of God. Our being, our life and our heart must be fixed in God, in this point from which we must not stir. This is achieved and reinforced day after day with short prayers in which we reconnect with God and become, increasingly, men of God who live in his communion and can thus speak of God and lead people to God.

The other element is that the priest must be man, human in all senses. That is, he must live true humanity, true humanism; he must be educated, have a human formation, human virtues; he must develop his intelligence, his will, his sentiments, his affections; he must be a true man, a man according to the will of the Creator, of the Redeemer, for we know that the human being is wounded and the question of "what man is" is obscured by the event of sin that hurt human nature even to the quick. Thus people say: "he lied" "it is human"; "he stole" "it is human"; but this is not really being human. Human means being generous, being good, being a just person, it means true prudence and wisdom. Therefore emerging with Christ's help from this dark area in our nature so as to succeed in being truly human in the image of God is a lifelong process that must begin in our training for the priesthood. It must subsequently be achieved, however, and continue as long as we live. I think that basically these two things go hand in hand: being of God and with God and being true man, in the true sense meant by the Creator when he formed this creature that we are.

To be man: the Letter to the Hebrews stresses our humanity; we find this surprising for it says: "He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness" (5: 2). And then even more forcefully "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear" (5: 7). For the Letter to the Hebrews, the essential element of our being human is being compassionate, suffering with others: this is true humanity. It is not sin because sin is never solidarity but always tears solidarity apart, it is living life for oneself instead of giving it. True humanity is real participation in the suffering of human beings. It means being a compassionate personmetriopathèin, the Greek text says that is, being at the core of human passion, really bearing with others the burden of their suffering, the temptation of our time: "God, where are you in this world?".

The humanity of the priest does not correspond to the Platonic or Aristotelian ideal which claims that the true man is the one who lives in contemplation of the truth alone and so is blessed happy because he only has friendship with beautiful things, with divine beauty, while "the work" is left to others. This is a hypothesis; whereas here it is implied that the priest enter, like Christ, into human wretchedness, carry it with him, visit those who are suffering and look after them and, not only outwardly but also inwardly, take upon himself, recapitulate in himself the "passion" of his time, of his parish, of the people entrusted to his care. This is how Christ showed his true humanity. Of course, his Heart was always fixed on God, he always saw God, he was always in intimate conversation with him. Yet at the same time he bore the whole being, the whole of human suffering entered the Passion. In speaking, in seeing people who were lowly, who had no pastor, he suffered with them. Moreover, we priests cannot withdraw to an Elysium. Let us rather be immersed in the passion of this world and with Christ's help and in communion with him, we must seek to transform it, to bring it to God.

Precisely this should be said, with the following really stimulating text: "Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears" (Heb 5: 7). This is not only a reference to the hour of anguish on the Mount of Olives but sums up the whole history of the Passion that embraces Jesus' entire life. Tears: Jesus wept by the tomb of Lazarus, he was truly moved inwardly by the mystery of death, by the terror of death. People forgive the brother, as in this case, the mother and the son, the friend: all the dreadfulness of death that destroys love, that destroys relationships, that is a sign of our finiteness, our poverty. Jesus is put to the test and he confronts this mystery in the very depths of his soul in the sorrow that is death and weeps. He weeps before Jerusalem, seeing the destruction of the beautiful city because of disobedience; he weeps, seeing all the destruction of the world's history; he weeps, seeing that people destroy themselves and their cities with violence and with disobedience.

Jesus weeps with loud cries. We know from the Gospels that Jesus cried out from the Cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mk 15: 34; cf. Mt 27: 46) and cried out once again at the end. And this cry responds to a fundamental dimension of the Psalm: in the terrible moments of human life many Psalms are a loud cry to God: "Help us, hear us!". On this very day, in the Breviary, we prayed like this: God, where are you? "You have made us like sheep for slaughter" (Ps 44[43]: 11 [rsv]). A cry of suffering humanity! And Jesus, who is the true subject of the Psalms, truly bears this cry of humanity to God, to God's ears: "help us and hear us!". He transforms the whole of suffering humanity, taking it to himself in a cry to God to hear him.

Thus we see that in this very way he brings about the priesthood, the function of mediator, bearing in himself, taking on in himself the sufferings and passion of the world, transforming it into a cry to God, bringing it before the eyes and to the hands of God and thus truly bringing it to the moment of redemption.

In fact the Letter to the Hebrews says that "he offered up prayers and supplications", "loud cries and tears" (5: 7). It is a correct translation of the verb prosphèrein. This is a religious word and expresses the act of offering human gifts to God, it expresses precisely the act of offering, of sacrifice. Thus with these religious terms applied to the prayers and tears of Christ, it shows that Christ's tears, his anguish on the Mount of Olives, his cry on the Cross, all his suffering are nothing in comparison with his important mission. In this very way he makes his sacrifice, he becomes the priest. With this "offered", prosphèrein, the Letter to the Hebrews says to us: this is the fulfilment of his priesthood, thus he brings humanity to God, in this way he becomes mediator, he becomes priest.

We say, rightly, that Jesus did not offer God some thing. Rather, he offered himself and made this offering of himself with the very compassion that transforms the suffering of the world into prayer and into a cry to the Father. Nor, in this sense, is our own priesthood limited to the religious act of Holy Mass in which everything is placed in Christ's hands but all of our compassion to the suffering of this world so remote from God is a priestly act, it is prosphèrein, it is offering up. In this regard, in my opinion, we must understand and learn how to accept more profoundly the sufferings of pastoral life, because priestly action is exactly this, it is mediation, it is entering into the mystery of Christ, it is communication with the mystery of Christ, very real and essential, existential and then sacramental.

A second term in this context is important. It is said that by means of this obedience Christ is made perfect, in Greek teleiothèis (cf. Heb 5: 8-9). We know that throughout the Torah, that is, in all religious legislation, the word tèleion, used here, means priestly ordination. In other words the Letter to the Hebrews tells us that precisely by doing this Jesus was made a priest, and his priesthood was fulfilled. Our sacramental priestly ordination should be brought about and achieved existentially but also Christologically, and through precisely this, should bring the world with Christ and to Christ and, with Christ, to God: thus we really become priests, teleiothèis. Therefore the priest is not a thing for a few hours but is fulfilled precisely in pastoral life, in his sufferings and his weaknesses, in his sorrows and also in his joys, of course. In this way we increasingly become priests in communion with Christ.

Finally the Letter to the Hebrews sums up all this compassion in the word hypakoèn, obedience: it is all obedience. This is an unpopular word in our day. Obedience appears as an alienation, a servile attitude. One does not enjoy one's own freedom, one's freedom is subjected to another's will, hence one is no longer free but determined by another, whereas self-determination, emancipation, would be true human existence. Instead of the word "obedience", as an anthropological keyword we would like the term "freedom". Yet, on considering this problem closely, we see that these two things go together: Christ's obedience is the conformity of his will with the will of the Father; it is bringing the human will to the divine will, to the conformation of our will with God's will.

In his interpretation of the Mount of Olives, of the anguish expressed precisely in Jesus' prayer, "not my will but your will", St Maximus Confessor described this process that Christ carries in himself as a true man, together with the human nature and will; in this act "not my will but your will" Jesus recapitulates the whole process of his life, of leading, that is, natural human life to divine life and thereby transforming the human being. It is the divinization of the human being, hence the redemption of the human being, because God's will is not a tyrannical will, is not a will outside our being but is the creative will itself; it is the very place where we find our true identity.

God created us and we are ourselves if we conform with his will; only in this way do we enter into the truth of our being and are not alienated. On the contrary, alienation occurs precisely by disregarding God's will, for in this way we stray from the plan for our existence; we are no longer ourselves and we fall into the void. Indeed, obedience, namely, conformity to God, the truth of our being, is true freedom, because it is divinization. Jesus, in bearing the human being, being human in himself and with himself, in conformity with God, in perfect obedience, that is, in the perfect conformation between the two wills, has redeemed us and redemption is always this process of leading the human will to communion with the divine will. It is a process for which we pray every day: "May your will be done" And let us really pray the Lord to help us see closely that this is freedom and thus enter joyfully into this obedience and into "taking hold of" human beings in order to bring them by our own example, by our humility, by our prayer, by our pastoral action into communion with God.

Continuing our reading, a sentence of difficult interpretation follows. The Author of the Letter to the Hebrews says that Jesus prayed loudly, with cries and tears, to God who could save him from death and that in his total abandonment he is heard (cf. 5: 7). Here let us say: "No, it is not true, his prayer went unheard, he is dead". Jesus prayed to be released from death, but he was not released, he died a very cruel death. Harnack, a liberal theologian, therefore wrote: "Here a not is missing", it must be written "He was not heard", and Bultmann accepted this interpretation. Yet this is a solution that is not an exegesis but rather a betrayal of the text. "Not" does not appear in any of the manuscripts but "he was heard"; so we must learn to understand what "being heard" means, in spite of the Cross.

I see three levels on which to understand these words. At a first level the Greek text may be translated as: "he was redeemed from his anguish", and in this sense Jesus is heard. This would therefore be a hint of what St Luke tells us: an angel strengthened him (cf. Lk 22: 43), in such a way that after the moment of anguish he was able to go, straight away and fearlessly towards his hour, as the Gospels describe it to us, especially that of John. This would be being heard in the sense that God gives him the strength to bear the whole of this burden and so he was heard. Yet to me it seems that this answer is not quite enough. Being heard, in the fullest sense Fr Vanhoye emphasized this would mean "he was redeemed from death", however not for the moment, for that moment, but for ever, in the Resurrection: God's true response to the prayer to be saved from death is the Resurrection and humanity is saved from death precisely in the Resurrection which is the true healing of our suffering and of the terrible mystery of death.

Already present here is a third level of understanding: Jesus' Resurrection is not only a personal event. I think it would be helpful to keep in mind the brief text in which St John, in chapter 12 of his Gospel, presents and recounts, in a very concise manner, the event on the Mount of Olives. 
Jesus says: "Now is my soul troubled" (Jn 12: 27) and, in all the anguish of the Mount of Olives, what shall I say? "Father, save me from this hour... Father glorify your name" (cf. Jn 12: 27-28). This is the same prayer that we find in the Synoptic Gospels: "all things are possible to you... your will be done (cf. Mt 26: 42; Mk 14: 36; Lk 22: 42) which in Johannine language appears: either as "save me" or "glorify" [your name]. And God answers: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again" (cf. Jn 12: 28). This is the response, it is God hearing him: I will glorify the Cross; it is the presence of divine glory because it is the supreme act of love. On the Cross Jesus is raised above all the earth and attracts the earth to him; on the Cross the "Kabod" now appears, the true divine glory of God who loves even to the Cross and thus transforms death and creates the Resurrection.

Jesus' prayer was heard in the sense that his death truly becomes life, it becomes the place where he redeems the human being, where he attracts the human being to himself. If the divine response in John says: "I will glorify" you, it means that this glory transcends and passes through the whole of history over and over again: from your Cross, present in the Eucharist, it transforms death into glory. This is the great promise that is brought about in the Blessed Eucharist which ever anew opens the heavens. Being a servant of the Eucharist is, therefore, a depth of the priestly mystery.

Another brief word, at least about Melchizedek. He is a mysterious figure who enters Sacred History in Genesis 14. After Abraham's victory over several kings, Melchizedek, King of Salem, of Jerusalem, appears and brings out bread and wine. This uncommented and somewhat incomprehensible event appears only in Psalm 110 [109] as has been said, but it is clear that Judaism, Gnosticism and Christianity then wished to reflect profoundly on these words and created their interpretations. The Letter to the Hebrews does not speculate but reports only what Scripture says and there are various elements: he is a king of righteousness, he dwells in peace, he is king where peace reigns, he venerates and worships the Most High God, the Creator of Heaven and earth, and he brings out bread and wine (cf. Heb 7: 1-3; Gn 14: 18-20). It is not mentioned here that the High Priest of the Most High God, King of Peace, worships God, Creator of Heaven and earth with bread and wine. The Fathers stressed that he is one of the holy pagans of the Old Testament and this shows that even from paganism there is a path that leads to Christ. The criteria are: worshipping God Most High, the Creator, fostering righteousness and peace and venerating God in a pure way. Thus, with these fundamental elements, paganism too is on its way to Christ, and in a certain way, makes Christ's light present.

In the Roman canon after consecration we have the prayer supra quae that mentions certain prefigurations of Christ, his priesthood and his sacrifice: Abel, the first martyr, with his lamb; Abraham, whose intention is to sacrifice his son Isaac, replaced by the lamb sent by God; and Melchizedek, High Priest of God Most High who brings out bread and wine. This means that Christ is the absolute newness of God and at the same time is present in the whole of history, through history, and history goes to encounter Christ. And not only the history of the Chosen People, which is the true preparation desired by God, in which is revealed the mystery of Christ, but also in paganism the mystery of Christ is prepared, paths lead from it toward Christ who carries all things within him.

This seems to me important in the celebration of the Eucharist: here is gathered together all human prayer, all human desire, all true human devotion, the true search for God that is fulfilled at last in Christ. Lastly. it should be said that the Heavens are now open, worship is no longer enigmatic, in relative signs, but true. For Heaven is open and people do not offer some thing, rather, the human being becomes one with God and this is true worship. This is what the Letter to the Hebrews says: "Our priest... is seated at the right hand of the throne... in the sanctuary, the true tent which is set up... by the Lord" (cf. 8: 1-2).

Let us return to the point that Melchizedek is King of Salem. The whole Davidic tradition refers to this, saying: "Here is the place, Jerusalem is the place of the true worship, the concentration of worship in Jerusalem dates back to the times of Abraham, Jerusalem is the true place for the proper veneration of God".

Let us take another step: the true Jerusalem, God's Salem, is the Body of Christ, the Eucharist is God's peace with humankind. We know that in his Prologue, St John calls the humanity of Jesus the tent of God, eskènosen en hemìn (cf. Jn 1: 14). It was here that God himself pitched his tent in the world, and this tent, this new, true Jerusalem is at the same time on earth and in Heaven because this Sacrament, this sacrifice, is ceaselessly brought about among us and always arrives at the throne of Grace, at God's presence. Here is the true Jerusalem, at the same time heavenly and earthly, the tent which is the Body of God, which as a risen Body always remains a Body and embraces humanity. And, at the same time, since it is a risen Body, it unites us with God. All this is constantly brought about anew in the Eucharist. We, as priests, are called to be ministers of this great Mystery, in the Sacrament and in life. Let us pray the Lord that he grant us to understand this Mystery ever better, that he make us live this mystery ever better and thus to offer our help so that the world may be opened to God, so that the world may be redeemed. Thank you.

 
 

© Copyright 2010 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

A prayer request

If you all wouldn't mind, please say a prayer tonight for me, for a particular struggle I'm battling. Also, please say a prayer for two friends, each enduring significant struggles of their own. Thanks.

Come Be My Light

Today's Lenten reading will be a bit longer than the previous ones. This is a portion of one of the letters written by Mother Teresa to the Archbishop Périer regarding her desire to leave the convent of Loreto and form the Missionaries of Charity. This letter goes a long way towards explaining the desire behind her work and while I won't reprint the entire letter here, I want to quote it at length to give a real insight into her relationship with Christ and how that motivated her and gave her the confidence to embark upon a mission that frightened her so and required such total abandonment. The letter comes from the book Come Be My Light:

During the year very often I have had that longing to be all for Jesus and to make other souls – Indian especially, come and love Him fervently, but as I thought this to be one of my desires I put it off again and again. To identify myself so much with Indian girls would be out of the question. After reading the life of St. Cabrini – the thought kept on coming – why can't I do for Him in India what she did for Him in America – why was she able to identify herself so much with the Americans as to become one of them. She did not wait for souls to come to her, she went in search of them and brought with her zealous workers. – Why can't I do the same for Him here? How could i? I have been and am very happy as a Loreto Nun. – To leave that what I love and expose myself to new labours and suffering which will be great, to be the laughing stock of so many – especially religious, to cling to and choose deliberately the hard things of an Indian life – to cling to and choose loneliness and ignominy – uncertainty – and all because Jesus wants it – because something is calling me to leave all and gather the few – to live His life – to do His work in India. In all my prayers and Holy Communions He is continually asking "Wilt thou refuse? When there was a question of thy soul I did not think of Myself but gave Myself freely for thee on the Cross and now what about thee? Wilt thou refuse? I want Indian Nuns victims of my love, who would be Mary and Martha, who would be so very united to me as to radiate My love on souls. I want free Nuns covered with my poverty of the Cross. I want full of love Nuns covered with My Charity of the Cross. – Wilt thou refuse to do this for me?"

My own Jesus – what you ask is beyond me – I can hardly understand half of the things you want – I am unworthy – I am sinful – I am weak – Go Jesus and find a more worthy soul, a more generous one.

"You have become My Spouse for my love – you have come to India for Me. The thirst you had for souls brought you so far. – Are you afraid now to take one more step for your Spouse – for Me – for souls? Is your generosity grown cold? Am I a second to you? You did not die for souls – that is why you don't care what happens to them – Your heart was never drowned in sorrow as was My Mother's. – We both gave all for souls – and you? You are afraid, that you will lose your vocation – you will become a secular – you will be wanting in perseverance. No – your vocation is to love and suffer and save souls and by taking the step you will fulfill My Heart's desire for you. You will dress in simple Indian clothes or rather like My Mother dressed – simple and poor. Your present habit is holy because it is My symbol. Your sarie will become holy because it will be My symbol."

Give me light. – Send me Thy own Spirit – which will teach me Thy own Will – which will give me strength to do the things that are pleasing to Thee. Jesus, My Jesus, don't let me be deceived. – If it is You who want this, give proof of it, if not let it leave my soul. – I trust you blindly – will you let my soul be lost? I am so afraid, Jesus – I am so terribly afraid – let me not be deceived – I am so afraid. – This fear shows me how much I love myself. – I am afraid of the suffering that will come – through leading that Indian life – clothing like them, eating like them, sleeping like them – living with them and never having anything my way. How much comfort has taken possession of my heart.

"You have been always saying 'do with me whatever you wish.' Now I want to act, let me do it – My little Spouse, My own little one. – Do not fear – I shall be with you always. You will suffer and you suffer now – but if you are My own little Spouse – the Spouse of the crucified Jesus – you will have to bear these torments in your heart. – Let me act – Refuse me not. Trust me lovingly – trust me blindly."

Jesus, my own Jesus – I am only Thine – I am so stupid – I do not know what to say – but do with me whatever You wish – as You wish – as long as you wish. I love you not for what you give, but for what You take Jesus – why can't I be a perfect Loreto nun – a real victim of Your love – here – why can't I be like everybody else. Look at the hundreds of Loreto nuns – who have served You perfectly, who are now with You. Why can't I walk the same path and come to You?

"I want Indian Nuns, Missionaries of Charity, who would be my fire of love amongst the poor, the sick, the dying and the little children. The poor I want you to bring to me and the Sisters that would offer their lives as victims of My love – will bring these souls to Me. You are I know the most incapable person – weak and sinful but just because you are this – I want to use you for My glory. Will thou refuse?

"Little one, give Me souls – Give me the souls of the poor little street children. – How it hurts, if you only knew, to see these poor children soiled with sin. – I long for the purity of their love. – If you would only answer and bring me these souls – draw them away from the hands of the evil one. If you only knew how many little ones fall into sin every day. There are plenty of Nuns to look after the rich and well to do people – but for My very poor, there are absolutely none. For them I long – them I love. Wilt thou refuse?"

"My little one – come – come – carry me into the holes of the poor. – Come be My light – I cannot go alone – they don't know Me – so they don't want Me. You come – go amongst them, carry Me with you into them. – How I long to enter their holes – their dark unhappy homes. Come be their victim. – In your immolation – in your love for Me – they will see Me, know Me, want Me. Offer more sacrifices – smile more tenderly, pray more fervently and all the difficulties will disappear.

 

Suffering with Christ

Today's Lenten reading comes from Pope John Paul II's great Apostolic Letter, Salvifici Doloris:

The very participation in Christ's suffering finds, in these apostolic expressions, as it were a twofold dimension. If one becomes a sharer in the sufferings of Christ, this happens because Christ has opened his suffering to man, because he himself in his redemptive suffering has become, in a certain sense, a sharer in all human sufferings. Man, discovering through faith the redemptive suffering of Christ, also discovers in it his own sufferings; he rediscovers them, through faith, enriched with a new content and new meaning.

This discovery caused Saint Paul to write particularly strong words in the Letter to the Galatians: "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me: and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me"(62). Faith enables the author of these words to know that love which led Christ to the Cross. And if he loved us in this way, suffering and dying, then with this suffering and death of his he lives in the one whom he loved in this way; he lives in the man: in Paul. And living in him-to the degree that Paul, conscious of this through faith, responds to his love with love-Christ also becomes in a particular wayunited to the man, to Paul, through the Cross. This union caused Paul to write, in the same Letter to the Galatians, other words as well, no less strong: "But far be it from me to glory except in theCross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world"(63).

21. The Cross of Christ throws salvific light, in a most penetrating way, on man's life and in particular on his suffering. For through faith the Cross reaches man together with the Resurrection: the mystery of the Passion is contained in the Paschal Mystery. The witnesses of Christ's Passion are at the same time witnesses of his Resurrection. Paul writes: "That I may know him (Christ) and the power of his Resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead"(64). Truly, the Apostle first experienced the "power of the Resurrection" of Christ, on the road to Damascus, and only later, in this paschal light, reached that " sharing in his sufferings" of which he speaks, for example, in the Letter to the Galatians.The path of Paul is clearly paschal: sharing in the Cross of Christ comes about through the experience of the Risen One, therefore through a special sharing in the Resurrection. Thus, even in the Apostle's expressions on the subject of suffering there so often appears the motif of glory, which finds its beginning in Christ's Cross.

The witnesses of the Cross and Resurrection were convinced that "through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God"(65). And Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, says this: "We ourselves boast of you... for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be made worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which you are suffering"(66). Thus to share in the sufferings of Christ is, at the same time, to suffer for the Kingdom of God. In the eyes of the just God, before his judgment, those who share in the suffering of Christ become worthy of this Kingdom. Through their sufferings, in a certain sense they repay the infinite price of the Passion and death of Christ, which became the price of our Redemption: at this price the Kingdom of God has been consolidated anew in human history, becoming the definitive prospect of man's earthly existence. Christ has led us into this Kingdom through his suffering. And also through suffering those surrounded by the mystery of Christ's Redemption become mature enough to enter this Kingdom.

Prayers for Spiritual Warfare

Since Lent is a common time for Satan to increase his attacks - especially, I presume, when East and West share a common Lent, I thought it might be a good time to repost these helpful prayers of spiritual warfare:

Prayer to St. Michael

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle,
be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Hosts,
by the power of God,
cast into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin and destruction of souls. Amen.

Anima Christi

Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from Christ's side, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Suffer me not to be separated from Thee
From the malicious enemy defend me
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come unto Thee
That I may praise Thee with Thy saints
and with Thy angels
Forever and ever
Amen

Prayer for Deliverance

My Lord, you are all powerful, you are God, you are Father. We beg you through the intercession and help of the archangels Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel for the deliverance of our brothers and sisters who are enslaved by the evil one. All saints of Heaven, come to our aid.

From anxiety, sadness and obsessions, we beg you,

Free us O Lord.

From hatred, fornication, envy, we beg you,

Free us O Lord.

From thoughts of jealousy, rage and death, we beg you,

Free us O Lord.

From every thought of suicide or abortion, we beg you,

Free us O Lord.

From every form of sinful sexuality, we beg you

Free us O Lord.

From every division in our family, and every harmful friendship, we beg you

Free us O Lord.

From every sort of spell, malefice, witchcraft, and every form of the occult, we beg you,

Free us O Lord.

Lord, you who said, "I leave you peace, my peace I give you", grant that, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, we may be liberated from every evil spell and enjoy your peace always. In the name of Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Prayer against Malefice (From the Greek Ritual)

Kyrie Eleison. God, our Lord, King of ages, All-powerful and All-mighty. You who made everything and who transformed everything simply by your will. You who in Babylon changed into dew the flames of the 'seven-times hotter' furnace and protected and saved the three holy children. You are the doctor and the physician of our soul. You are the salvation of those who turn to you.

We beseech you to make powerless, banish, and drive out every diabolical power, presence, and machination; every evil influence, malefice, or evil eye and all evil actions aimed against your servant...where there is envy and malice, give us an abundance of goodness, endurance, victory, and charity.

O Lord, you who love man, we beg you to reach out your powerful hands and your most high and mighty arms and come to our aid. Help us, who are made in your image; send the angel of peace over us, to protect us body and soul. May he keep at bay and vanquish every evil power, every poison or malice invoked against us by corrupt and envious people. Then under the protection of your authority may we sing, in gratitude, "The Lord is my salvation; whom should I fear? I will not fear evil because you are with me, my God, my strength, my powerful Lord, Lord of peace, Father of all ages.

Yes, Lord our God, be merciful to us, your image, and save your servant (name the person), from every threat or harm from the evil one, and protect him by raising him above all evil.

We ask you this through the intercession of our Most Blessed, Glorious Lady, Mary ever Virgin, Mother of God, of the most splendid archangels and all your saints. Amen!

Prayer against Every Evil

Spirit of our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Most Holy Trinity, Immaculate Virgin Mary, angels, archangels, and saints of Heaven, descend upon me.

Please purify me, Lord, mold me, fill me with yourself, use me.

Banish all forces of evil from me, destroy them, vanquish them, so that I can be healthy and do good deeds.

Banish from me all spells, witchcraft, black magic, malefice, ties, maledictions, and the evil eye; diabolical infestations, oppressions, possessions; all that is evil and sinful, jealousy, perfidy, envy; physical, psychological, moral, spiritual, diabolical ailments.

Burn all these evils in hell , that they may never again touch me or any other creature in the entire world.

I command and bid all the powers who molest me - by the power of God all powerful, in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, through the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary - to leave me forever, and to be consigned into the everlasting hell, where they will be bound by Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Gabriel, Saint Raphael, our guardian angels, and where they will be crushed under the heel of the Immaculate Virgin Mary.

Amen.

Prayer for Inner Healing:

Lord Jesus, you came to heal our wounded hearts. I beg you to heal the torments that cause anxiety in my heart. I beg you, in a particular way, to heal all who are the cause of sin. I beg you to come into my life and heal me of the psychological harms that struck me in my early years and from the injuries that they caused throughout my life.

Lord Jesus, you know my burdens. I lay them all on your Good Shepherd's Heart. I beseech you - by the merits of the great, open wound in your heart - to heal the small wounds that are mine. Heal the pain of my memories, so that nothing that has happened to me will cause me to remain in pain and anguish, filled with anxiety.

Heal, O Lord, all those wounds that have been the cause of all the evil that is rooted in my life. I want to forgive all those who have offended me. Look to those inner sores that make me unable to forgive. You who came to forgive the afflicted of heart, please, heal my own heart.

Heal, my Lord Jesus, those intimate wounds that cause me physical illness. I offer you my heart. Accept it, Lord, purify it and give me the sentiments of Your Divine Heart. Help me to be meek and humble.

Heal me, O Lord, from the pain caused by the death of my loved ones, which is oppressing me. grant me to regain peace and joy in the knowledge that you are the Resurrection and the life. Make me an authentic witness to your resurrection, your victory over sin and death, your living presence among us. Amen.

Get over it

Patrick Madrid has a fantastic article exposing both Richard McBrien and America Magazine regarding their protests (and in McBrien's case, perhaps even the encouragement to disobedience) of the new Missal translation. Read it here.

The Weariness of Desire

Today's Lenten reading comes from The Ascent of Mount Carmel by St. John of the Cross, the great spiritual work devoted to the purgation of the senses and the spirit as is necessary for a soul to truly live a life absorbed in God:

A soul with desires wearies itself, because it is like someone with a fever whose thirst increases by the minute, and who feels ill until the fever leaves. It is said in the Book of Job: Cum satiatus fuerit, arctabitur, aestuabit, et omnis dolor irruet super eum (When he has satisfied his appetite, he will be more burdened and oppressed; the heat of appetite will have increased and every sorrow will fall upon him) [Jb. 20:22).

The appetites are wearisome and tiring because they agitate and disturb one just as wind disturbs water. And they so upset the soul that they do not let it rest in any place or thing. Isaiah declares of such a soul: Cor impii quasi mare fervens (The heart of the wicked is like a stormy sea) [Is. 57:20]. And anyone who does not conquer the appetites is wicked.

People seeking the satisfaction of their desires grow tired, because they are like the famished who open their mouths to satisfy themselves with air. But they find that instead of being filled the mouth dries up more since air is not one's proper food. With this in mind Jeremiah says: In desiderio animae suae attraxit mentum amoris sui (In the appetite of his will he drew in the air of his attachment) [Jer. 2:24]. To comment on the dryness in which the soul is left, he immediately adds the advice: Prohibe pedem tuum a nuditate, et guttur tuum a siti. This means: Hold back your foot (that is, your mind) from nakedness, and your throat from thirst (that is, your will from satisfying its desire, which only causes greater thirst) [Jer. 2:25].

Just as a lover is wearied and depressed when on a longed-for day his opportunity is frustrated, so is the soul wearied and tired by all its appetites and their fulfillment, because the fulfillment only causes more hunger and emptiness. An appetite, as they say, is like a fire that blazes up when wood is thrown on it, but necessarily dies out when the wood is consumed.

In regard to the appetites, things are even worse. The fire dwindles as the wood is consumed, but the intensity of the appetite does not diminished when the appetite is satisfied, even though the object is gone. Instead of waning like the fire after the wood is burned, the appetite faints with fatigue because its hunger has increased and its food diminished. Isaiah refers to this: Declinabit ad dexteram, et esuriet; et comedet ad sinistram, et non saturabitur (He will turn to the right and be hungry, and eat toward the left and not be filled) [Is. 9:20]. When those who do not mortify their appetites turn to the right, of course they see the abundance of the sweet spirit that is the lot of those who are at the right hand of God but is not granted to them. When they eat at the left (satisfy their appetite with some creature), they of course grow discontented because, in turning from what alone satisfies, they feed on what augments their hunger. It is clear, then, that the appetites weary and fatigue a person.

 

Ascent of Mount Carmel, I.6.6-7

Embracing Who We Are

Today's Lenten reading comes from another of my favorite spiritual books, Story of a Soul, the autobiography of St. Therese de Lisieux, La Petite Fleur. While at first glance this might seem out of place as a Lenten reflection, I think this passage speaks volumes about true humility, a powerful theme on which to reflect during Lent:

Jesus deigned to teach me this mystery. He set before me the book of nature; I understood how all the flowers He has created are beautiful, how the splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the Lily do not take away the perfume of the little violet or the delightful simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime beauty, and the fields would no longer be decked out with little wild flowers.

And so it is in the world of souls, Jesus' garden. He willed to create great souls comparable to Lilies and roses, but He has created smaller ones and these must be content to be daisies or violets destined to give joy to God's glances when He looks down at his feet. Perfection consists in doing His will, in being what He wills us to be.

I understood, too, that Our Lord's love is revealed as perfectly in the most simple soul who resists His grace in nothing as in the most excellent soul; in fact, since the nature of love is to humble oneself, if all souls resembled those of the holy Doctors who illumined the Church with the clarity of their teachings, it seems God would not descend so low when coming to their heart…Just as the sun shines simultaneously on the tall cedars and on each little flower as though it were alone on the earth, so Our Lord is occupied particularly with each soul as though there were no others like it. And just as in nature all the seasons are arranged in such a way as to make the humblest daisy bloom on a set day, in the same way, everything works out for the good of each soul.

Salvation through Love

Today's Lenten reading comes from Viktor Frankl's classic Man's Search for Meaning, from a scene where he is describing his march to the concentration camp, a march of solidarity with the one walking with him, and the sudden piercing experience of love that penetrated him in that moment. It is striking to me as a Christian how easily this language translates into a song of Christ:

That brought thoughts of my own wife to mind. And as we stumbled on for miles, slipping on icy spots, supporting each other time and again, dragging one another up and onward, nothing was said, but we both knew: each of us was thinking of his wife. Occasionally I looked at the sky, where the stars were fading and the pink light of morning was beginning to spread behind a dark bank of clouds. But my mind clung to my wife's image, imagining it with an uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look. Real or not, her look was then more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise.

A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth – that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way – an honorable way – in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life I was able to understand the meaning of the words, "The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory."

Seminarians in Rome Praying Vespers

Check out this great article from The New Liturgical Movement (hands down the best liturgical blog on the net today) regarding the seminarians in Rome praying Vespers and learning the history and tradition of chant and liturgical prayer.

On Suffering and Love

Today's Lenten reading comes from one of my favorite spiritual works, St. Catherine of Siena's The Dialogue. The following excerpt takes the form of God the Father speaking to St. Catherine:

I have shown you, dearest daughter, that in this life guilt is not atoned for by any suffering simply as suffering, but rather as suffering borne with desire, love, and contrition of heart. The value is not in the suffering but in the soul's desire. Likewise, neither desire nor any other virtue has value or life except through my only-begotten Son, Christ crucified, since the soul has drawn love from him and in virtue follows his footsteps. In this way and in no other is suffering of value. It satisfies for sin, then, with gentle unitive love born from sweet knowledge of my goodness and from the bitterness and contrition the heart finds in the knowledge of itself and its own sins. Such knowledge gives birth to hatred and contempt for sin and for the soul's selfish sensuality, whence she considers herself worthy of punishment and unworthy of reward. So you see, said gentle Truth, those who have heartfelt contrition, love for true patience, and that true humility which considers oneself worthy of punishment and unworthy of reward suffer with patience and so make atonement.

You ask me for suffering to atone for the offenses my creatures commit against me. And you ask for the will to know and love me, supreme Truth. Here is the way, if you would come to perfect knowledge and enjoyment of me, eternal Life: Never leave the knowledge of yourself. Then, put down as you are in the valley of humility you will know me in yourself, and from this knowledge you will draw all that you need.

No virtue can have life in it except from charity, and charity is nursed and mothered by humility. You will find humility in the knowledge of yourself when you see that even your own existence comes not from yourself but from me, for I loved you before you came into being. And in my unspeakable love for you I willed to create you anew in grace. So I washed you and made you a new creation in the blood that my only-begotten Son poured out with such burning love.

This blood gives you knowledge of the truth when knowledge of yourself leads you to shed the cloud of selfish love. There is no other way to know the truth. In so knowing me the soul catches fire with unspeakable love, which in turn brings continual pain. Indeed, because she has known my truth as well as her own sin and her neighbors' ingratitude and blindness, the soul suffers intolerably. Still, this is not a pain that troubles or shrivels up the soul. On the contrary, it makes her grow fat. For she suffers because she loves me, nor would she suffer if she did not love me.

 

The Dialogue, 1.4

Total Self-Emptying

Today's Lenten reading comes from an ancient story about St. Anthony of the Desert, as collected in a book called The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, translated by Benedicta Ward:

A brother renounced the world and gave up his goods to the poor, but he kept back a little for his personal expenses. He went to see Abba Anthony. When he told him this, the old man said to him, "If you want to be a monk, go into the village, buy some meat, cover your naked body with it and come here like that." The brother did so, and the dogs and the birds tore at his flesh. When he came back the old man asked him whether he had followed his advice. He showed him his wounded body, and Saint Anthony said, "Those who renounce the world but want to keep something for themselves are torn in this way by the demons who make war on them."

The True Cross

Today's Lenten reading comes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his great work, The Cost of Discipleship:

The cross is not adversity, nor the harshness of fate, but suffering coming solely from our commitment to Jesus Christ. The suffering of the cross is not fortuitous, but necessary. The cross is not the suffering tied to natural existence, but the suffering tied to being Christians. The cross is never simply a matter of suffering, but a matter of suffering and rejection, and even, strictly speaking, rejection for the sake of Jesus Christ, not for the sake of some other arbitrary behavior or confession. A form of Christian life that no longer took discipleship seriously, that made of the gospel merely a belief in cheap consolation, and for the rest did not really distinguish between natural existence and Christian existence – such a form of life had to understand the cross merely as one's daily trouble, as the distress and anxiety of natural life. Here it was forgotten that the cross always simultaneously means rejection, and that the disgrace of suffering is part of the cross. Being expelled, despised, and abandoned by people in one's suffering, as we find in the unending lament of the psalmist, is an essential feature of the suffering of the cross, yet one no longer comprehensible to a form of Christian life unable to distinguish between bourgeois and Christian existence. The cross means suffering with Christ, it means the suffering of Christ. Only that particular commitment to Christ occurring in discipleship stands seriously under the cross.

 

The Cost of Discipleship, 1.4

In Memory of a Giant

Today is the one year anniversary of the birth into eternal life of Fr. Thomas Martin, OSA. I was not one of the few people who knew Fr. Tom intimately, but I was one of the many people who knew him well enough to be changed by his friendship. One can say many things about Fr. Tom, that he was intelligent, that he was funny, that he was kind, that he was generous, and all of these would be true. Most of all, though, one would have to say that he was holy. He was a man whose heart belonged to Christ, and whose singular purpose in this life, a life which led him to be an Augustinian friar, was to imitate Christ in all he did. Indeed, not only did he imitate Christ beautifully in his life, but so also in his death. I was very blessed to have visited Fr. Tom the day before he died of cancer, and I remember well going into the sick ward expecting to see a man distressed by the imminence of impending death. I was struggling with a fear of my own, too, because knowing as I did that Fr. Tom was usually a man so full of vitality and vibrancy, the idea of seeing him frail and beaten would be to face mortality itself, and that is never a pleasant experience. I struggled very hard to maintain a right spirit so that hopefully I might bring him some small comfort with my visit, not knowing when he would die, only that it would be soon.

Of course, in typical fashion, it was Fr. Tom who was full of the right spirit, and it was he who comforted me. I walked in to see him reclining peacefully in his chair, and as should have been expected, he had out a collection of books and a highlighter, which he was going over to pass on to students who would take up the work he had begun. He smiled so beautifully when I walked in, and he made me laugh, and he made me smile. As Fr. Laird would say later, it was no surprise that the consummate teacher would use even his own dying as a way to teach anyone who would listen.

Usually when loved ones die it is never those last moments that we wish to remember. We usually want to remember something about their earlier days when they were full of life and strength and vitality. But with Fr. Tom, there is just something about that last day that always brings me such joy, such peace, and such fond recollection. In his dying days, he became even more fully himself. He truly understood his life as a preparation for his death, and when the time came, he was ready, and he was at peace, and in dying he was truly full of life.

Guarding against temptation

Today's Lenten reading comes from the classic work by Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, which will likely show up a few more times during these Lenten posts:

So long as we live in this world we cannot escape suffering and temptation. Whence it is written in Job: "The life of man upon earth is a warfare" (Job 7:1). Everyone, therefore, must guard against temptation and must watch in prayer, lest the devil, who never sleeps but goes about seeking whom he may devour, find occasion to deceive him. No one is so perfect or so holy but he is sometimes tempted; man cannot be altogether free from temptation.

Yet temptations, though troublesome and severe, are often useful to a man, for in them he is humbled, purified, and instructed. The saints all passed through many temptations and trials to profit by them, while those who could not resist them became reprobate and fell away. There is no state so holy, no place so secret that temptations and trials will not come. Man is never safe from them as long as he lives, for they come from within us – in sin we were born. When one temptation or trial passes, another comes; we shall always have something to suffer because we have lost the state of original blessedness.

…

The beginning of all temptation lies in a wavering mind and little trust in God, for as a rudderless ship is driven hither and yon by waves, so a careless and irresolute man is tempted in many ways. Fire tempers iron and temptation steels the just. Often we do not know what we can stand, but temptation shows us what we are.

Above all, we must be especially alert against the beginning of temptation, for the enemy is easily conquered if he is refused admittance to the mind and is met beyond the threshold when he knocks.

Someone has said very aptly: "Resist the beginnings; remedies come too late, when by long delay the evil has gained strength." First, a mere thought comes to mind, then strong imagination, followed by pleasure, evil delight, and consent. Thus, because he is not resisted in the beginning, Satan gains full entry. And the longer a man delays in resisting, so much the weaker does he become by day, while the strength of the enemy grows against him.

…

We should not despair, therefore, when we are tempted, but pray to God the more fervently that He may see fit to help us, for according to the word of Paul, he will make issue with temptation that we may be able to bear it. Let us humble our souls under the hand of God in every trial and temptation for He will save and exalt the humble in spirit.

 

The Imitation of Christ, 1.13

St. Augustine on the Beginning of Lent

Today's Lenten reading comes from the beginning of a Lenten sermon preached by St. Augustine around the year A.D. 415:

Today we enter upon the keeping of Lent, coming round again as it does every year; and every year too I owe you a solemn exhortation, so that the word of God, set before you by my service, may feed your minds as you set about fasting in the body; and in this way the inner self, nourished by its proper food, may undertake the chastisement of the outer, and sustain it all the more stoutly. It goes well with our devotion, after all, that as we are very soon going to celebrate the passion of the crucified Lord, we should also make a cross for ourselves out of the curbing of the pleasures of the flesh, as the apostle says: But those who are Jesus Christ's have crucified their flesh with its passions and lusts (Gal 5:24).

On this cross, indeed, the Christian ought to hang continually throughout the whole of this life, which is spent in the midst of trials and temptations. The time, you see, doesn't come in this life for pulling out the nails, of which it says in the psalm, Let my flesh be transfixed with nails by the fear of you (Ps 119:120). Flesh means the lusts of the flesh; the nails are the commandments of justice; with these the fear of the Lord transfixes those, and crucifies us as a sacrifice acceptable to him. That's why, again, the apostle says, And so I beseech you, brothers, by the compassion of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God (Rom 12:1).

So this cross, on which the servant of God is not only put to confusion, but in fact glorifies in it, saying, But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal 6:14); this cross, I repeat, is not just meant for forty days, but for the whole of this life, which is signified by the mystical number of these forty days. This may be because, as several authorities assert, the human being destined to live this live takes shape in the womb in forty days; or else because the four gospels agree with the tenfold law, and four times ten marks up this number, and indicates that in this life we need both parts of scripture; or for any other more probable reason which a better and brighter intelligence can find.

So it is that both Moses and Elijah and the Lord himself all fasted for forty days, to suggest that we are being worked upon in Moses and Elijah and in Christ himself, that is in the law and the prophets and in the gospel itself, to ensure that we aren't conformed to this world and don't cling to it, but that instead we crucify the old self, behaving not in gluttony and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness; but let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and take no care for the flesh in its lusts (Rom 13:13-14). Live here like that always, Christian; if you don't want your footsteps to sink in the earthly quagmire, don't come down from this cross.

 

Sermon 205.1

Pope Benedict XVI’s Homily for Ash Wednesday

"You love all creatures, Lord,
And do not loath anything you have made;
You forget the sins of those who convert and forgive them,
Because you are the Lord our God" (Entrance Antiphon)

Venerated Brothers in the Episcopate,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
 
With this moving invocation, taken from the Book of Wisdom (cf 11:23-26), the liturgy introduces the Eucharistic celebration of Ash Wednesday. They are words that, in some way, open the whole Lenten journey, placing as their foundation the omnipotence of the love of God, his absolute lordship over every creature, which is translated in infinite indulgence, animated by a constant and universal will to live. In fact, to forgive someone is equivalent to saying: I do not want you to die, but that you live; I always and only want your good.
 
This absolute certainty sustained Jesus during the 40 days transpired in the desert of Judea, after the baptism received from John in the Jordan. This long time of silence and fasting was for him a complete abandonment to the Father and to his plan of love; it was a "baptism," that is, an "immersion" in his will, and in this sense, an anticipation of the Passion and the Cross. To go into the desert and to stay there a long time, alone, meant to be willingly exposed to the assaults of the enemy, the tempter who made Adam fall and through whose envy death entered the world (cf Wisdom 2:24); it meant engaging in open battle with him, defying him with no other weapons than limitless confidence in the omnipotent love of the Father. Your love suffices me, my food is to do your will (cf John 4:34): This conviction dwelt in the mind and heart of Jesus during that "Lent" of his. It was not an act of pride, a titanic enterprise, but a decision of humility, consistent with the Incarnation and the Baptism in the Jordan, in the same line of obedience to the merciful love of the Father, who "so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (John 3:16).
 
The Lord did all this for us. He did it to save us and, at the same time, to show us the way to follow him. Salvation, in fact, is a gift, it is God's grace, but to have effect in my existence it requires my consent, an acceptance demonstrated in deeds, that is, in the will to live like Jesus, to walk after him. To follow Jesus in the Lenten desert is, hence, the condition necessary to participate in his Easter, in his "exodus." Adam was expelled from the earthly Paradise, symbol of communion with God; now, to return to that communion and, therefore, to true life, it is necessary to traverse the desert, the test of faith. Not alone, but with Jesus! He -- as always -- has preceded us and has already conquered in the battle against the spirit of evil. This is the meaning of Lent, liturgical time that every year invites us to renew the choice to follow Christ on the path of humility to participate in his victory over sin and death.
 
Understood in this perspective also is the penitential sign of the ashes, which are imposed on the head of those who begin with good will the Lenten journey. It is essentially a gesture of humility, which means: I recognize myself for what I am, a frail creature, made of earth and destined to the earth, but also made in the image of God and destined to him. Dust, yes, but loved, molded by love, animated by his vital breath, capable of recognizing his voice and of responding to him; free and, because of this, also capable of disobeying him, yielding to the temptation of pride and self-sufficiency. This is sin, the mortal sickness that soon entered to contaminate the blessed earth that is the human being. Created in the image of the Holy and Righteous One, man lost his own innocence and he can now return to be righteous only thanks to the righteousness of God, the righteousness of love that -- as St. Paul writes --  was manifested "through faith in Jesus Christ" (Romans 3:22). From these words of the Apostle I took my inspiration for my Message, addressed to all the faithful on the occasion of this Lent: a reflection on the theme of righteousness in the light of the Sacred Scriptures and of its fulfillment in Christ. 
 
Also very present in the biblical readings of Ash Wednesday is the theme of righteousness. First of all, the page of the prophet Joel and the Responsorial Psalm -- the Miserere -- form a penitential diptych, which manifests how at the origin of all material and social injustice is what the Bible calls "iniquity," that is, sin, which consists essentially in a disobedience to God, namely, a lack of love. "For I know my transgressions, / and my sin is ever before me. / Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, / and done that which is evil in thy sight" (Psalm 51 (50): 3-4). The first act of righteousness, therefore, is to recognize one's own iniquity, it is to recognize that it is rooted in the "heart," in the very center of the human person. "Fasting," "weeping", "mourning" (cf. Joel 2:12) and every penitential expression has value in the eyes of God only if it is the sign of truly repentant hearts. Also the Gospel, taken from the "Sermon on the Mount," insists on the need to practice proper "righteousness" -- almsgiving, prayer and fasting -- not before men but only in the eyes of God, who "sees in secret" (cf Matthew 6:1-6.16-18). The true "recompense" is not others' admiration, but friendship with God and the grace that derives from it, a grace that gives strength to do good, to love also the one who does not deserve it, to forgive those who have offended us.
 
The second reading, Paul's appeal to allow ourselves to be reconciled with God (cf 2 Corinthians 5:20), contains one of the famous Pauline paradoxes, which redirects the whole reflection on righteousness to the mystery of Christ. St. Paul writes: "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). In the heart of Christ, that is, in the center of his divine-human Person, the whole drama of liberty was at stake in decisive and definitive terms. God took to the extreme consequences his own plan of salvation, remaining faithful to his love even at the cost of giving his Only-begotten Son to death, and to death on a cross. As I wrote in the Lenten Message, "here divine righteousness is revealed, profoundly different from the human. [...] Thanks to Christ's action, we can enter the 'greatest' righteousness, which is that of love (cf Romans 13:8-10)."
 
Dear brothers and sisters, Lent lengthens our horizon, it orients us to eternal life. On this earth we are on pilgrimage, "[f]or here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come," says the Letter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 13:14). Lent makes us understand the relativity of the goods of this earth and thus makes us capable of the necessary self-denials, free to do good. Let us open the earth to the light of heaven, to the presence of God in our midst. Amen.
 
[Translation by ZENIT]
 
© Copyright 2010 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana

To Know the Cross

Lenten Reading Day 2 comes from Thomas Merton:

To know the Cross is not merely to know our own sufferings. For the Cross is the sign of salvation, and no man is saved by his own sufferings. To know the Cross is to know that we are saved by the sufferings of Christ; more, it is to know the love of Christ Who underwent suffering and death in order to save us. It is, then, to know Christ. For to know His love is not merely to know the story of His love, but to experience in our spirit that we are loved by Him, and that in His love the Father manifests His own love for us, through His Spirit poured forth into our hearts. To know all this is to understand something of the Cross, that is: to know Christ. This explains the connection between suffering and contemplation. For contemplation is simply the penetration, by divine wisdom, into the mystery of God's love, in the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

No Man is an Island, 5.11

Humility vs. Satan

My hope is that each day during Lent I will offer here some very short spiritual reading, from one of the saints or the great spiritual writers of the Church. Today I will share an excerpt from St. Teresa of Avila's The Way of Perfection regarding humility and temptation:

Let us each consider how much humility she has, and she will see what progress has been made. It doesn't seem to me the devil will tempt the truly humble person about rank even with the first stirrings. Since he is so shrewd, he fears getting hurt. It is impossible for a person who is humble not to gain strength and progress in humility when the devil tempts him in this way. Clearly, a humble person will reflect on his life and consider how he has served the Lord in comparison with how the Lord ought to be served and the wonders the Lord performed in lowering Himself so as to give us an example of humility; and he will consider his sins and where he merited to be on account of them. The soul ends up with so much gain that the devil doesn't dare return another day lest he get his head crushed.

Take this advice from me and do not forget it; do not strive only in an interior way – for it would be a very great loss if we didn't derive some benefit from these acts of humility – but strive also in an exterior way that the Sisters draw some benefit from your temptation. If you wish to take revenge on the devil and free yourself more quickly from temptation, ask the prioress as soon as the temptation comes to give you orders to do some lowly task; or, if possible, do it on your own and go about studying how to double your willingness to do things that go contrary to your nature. The Lord will reveal these things to you, and in this way and as a result the temptation will last only a short while longer. God deliver us from persons who are concerned about honor while trying to serve Him. Consider it an evil gain, and, as I said, honor itself is lost by desiring it, especially in matters of rank. For there is no toxin in the world that kills perfection as do these things.

The Way of Perfection, 13.6-7

Holy Water Fonts and Covering Statues During Lent

I know two questions that come up often leading up to and during Lent are these:

1. Can or should the parish empty the Holy Water or baptismal fonts during Lent? The answer to that one is no, it is not permitted to empty the fonts prior to the Sacred Triduum, at which point they are emptied. For a letter from the Congregation of Divine Worship explaining this, visit here.
   
2. Can or should we cover statues and/or the crucifix during Lent? That answer is less cut and dry, and seems to leave room for local custom. One thing for sure is that stained glass windows and Stations of the Cross are never to be covered. For an article by Fr. Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University, visit here.
   

Hope these links help.

Pope Benedict XVI on Bioethics and Natural Law

Yesterday the Holy Father addressed the Pontifical Academy for Life, who were gathered in Rome for a general assembly discussing Bioethics and the Natural Law. Here is a translation of his address, which is well worth the read:

Dear brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
Illustrious members of the "Pontificia Academia Pro Vita,"

Kind Ladies and Gentlemen!

I am glad to cordially welcome and greet you on the occasion of the general assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, called to reflect on themes pertaining to the relationship between bioethics and the natural moral law, which appear evermore relevant in the present context because of the continual development in the scientific sphere. I address a special greeting to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of this academy, thanking him for the courteous words that he wanted to address to me in the name of those present. I would also like to extend my personal thanks to each of you for the precious and irreplaceable work that you do on behalf of life in various contexts.

The issues that revolve around the theme of bioethics allow us to confirm how much these underlying questions in the first place pose the "anthropological question." As I state in my last encyclical letter, "Caritas in Veritate:" "A particularly crucial battleground in today's cultural struggle between the absolutism of technology and human moral responsibility is the field of bioethics, where the very possibility of integral human development is radically called into question. In this most delicate and critical area, the fundamental question asserts itself force-fully: is man the product of his own labors or does he depend on God? Scientific discoveries in this field and the possibilities of technological intervention seem so advanced as to force a choice between two types of reasoning: reason open to transcendence or reason closed within immanence" (no. 74).

Before such questions, which touch in such a decisive manner human life in its perennial tension between immanence and transcendence, and which have great relevance for the culture of future generations, it is necessary to create a holistic pedagogical project that permits us to confront these issues in a positive, balanced and constructive vision, above all in the relationship between faith and reason. The questions of bioethics often place the reminder of the dignity of the person in the foreground. This dignity is a fundamental principle that the faith in Jesus Christ crucified and risen has always defended, above all when it is ignored in regard to the humblest and most vulnerable persons: God loves every human being in a unique and profound way. Bioethics, like every discipline, needs a reminder able to guarantee a consistent understanding of ethical questions that, inevitably, emerge before possible interpretive conflicts. In such a space a normative recall to the natural moral law presents itself. The recognition of human dignity, in fact, as an inalienable right first finds its basis in that law not written by human hand but inscribed by God the Creator in the heart of man. Every juridical order is called to recognize this right as inviolable and every single person must respect and promote it (cf. "Catechism of the Catholic Church," nos. 1954-1960).

Without the foundational principle of human dignity it would be difficult to find a source for the rights of the person and the impossible to arrive at an ethical judgment if the face of the conquests of science that intervene directly in human life. It is thus necessary to repeat with firmness that an understanding of human dignity does not depend on scientific progress, the gradual formation of human life or facile pietism before exceptional situations. When respect for the dignity of the person is invoked it is fundamental that it be complete, total and with no strings attached, except for those of understanding oneself to be before a human life. Of course, there is development in human life and the horizon of the investigation of science and bioethics is open, but it must be reaffirmed that when it is a matter of areas relating to the human being, scientists can never think that what they have is only inanimate matter capable of manipulation in their hands. Indeed, from the very first moment, the life of man is characterized as "human life" and therefore always a bearer -- everywhere and despite everything -- of its own dignity (cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "Instruction 'Dignitas Personae' on Certain Bioethical Questions," no. 5). Without this understanding, we would always be in danger of an instrumental use of science with the inevitable consequence of easily ceding to the arbitrary, to discrimination and to the strongest economic interest.

Joining bioethics and natural moral law permits the best confirmation of the necessary and unavoidable reminder of the dignity that human life intrinsically possesses from its first instant to its natural end. But in the contemporary context, while a just reminder about the rights that guarantee dignity to the person is emerging with ever greater insistence, one notes that such rights are not always recognized in the natural development of human life and in the stages of its greatest fragility. A similar contradiction makes evident the task to be assumed in different spheres of society and culture to ensure that human life always be seen as the inalienable subject of rights and never as an object subjugated to the will of the strongest.

History has shown us how dangerous and deleterious a state can be that proceeds to legislate on questions that touch the person and society while pretending itself to be the source and principle of ethics. Without universal principles that permit a common denominator for the whole of humanity the danger of a relativistic drift at the legislative level is not at all something should be underestimated (cf. "Catechism of the Catholic Church," no. 1959). The natural moral law, strong in its universal character, allows us to avert such a danger and above all offers to the legislator the guarantee for an authentic respect of both the person and the entire created order. It is the catalyzing source of consensus among persons of different cultures and religions and allows them to transcend their differences since it affirms the existence of an order impressed in nature by the Creator and recognized as an instance of true rational ethical judgment to pursue good and avoid evil. The natural moral law "belongs to the great heritage of human wisdom. Revelation, with its light, has contributed to further purifying and developing it" (John Paul II, Address to the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, February 6, 2004).

Illustrious members of the Pontifical Academy for Life, in the present context your task appears more and more delicate and difficult, but the growing sensitivity in regard to human life is an encouragement to continue, with ever greater spirit and courage, in this important service to life and the education of future generations in the evangelical values. I hope that all of you will continue to study and research so that the work of promoting and defending life be ever more effective and fruitful. I accompany you with the apostolic blessing, which I gladly extend to those who share this daily task with you.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

Pope Benedict XVI’s Message for Lent 2010

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS 
BENEDICT XVI
FOR LENT 2010

 
 

"The justice of God has been manifested 
through faith in Jesus Christ" (cf. Rm 3, 21-22)

 
 

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

Each year, on the occasion of Lent, the Church invites us to a sincere review of our life in light of the teachings of the Gospel. This year, I would like to offer you some reflections on the great theme of justice, beginning from the Pauline affirmation: "The justice of God has been manifested through faith in Jesus Christ" (cf. Rm 3, 21-22).

Justice: "dare cuique suum"

First of all, I want to consider the meaning of the term "justice," which in common usage implies "to render to every man his due," according to the famous expression of Ulpian, a Roman jurist of the third century. In reality, however, this classical definition does not specify what "due" is to be rendered to each person. What man needs most cannot be guaranteed to him by law. In order to live life to the full, something more intimate is necessary that can be granted only as a gift: we could say that man lives by that love which only God can communicate since He created the human person in His image and likeness. Material goods are certainly useful and required – indeed Jesus Himself was concerned to heal the sick, feed the crowds that followed Him and surely condemns the indifference that even today forces hundreds of millions into death through lack of food, water and medicine – yet "distributive" justice does not render to the human being the totality of his "due." Just as man needs bread, so does man have even more need of God. Saint Augustine notes: if "justice is that virtue which gives every one his due ... where, then, is the justice of man, when he deserts the true God?" (De civitate Dei, XIX, 21).

What is the Cause of Injustice?

The Evangelist Mark reports the following words of Jesus, which are inserted within the debate at that time regarding what is pure and impure: "There is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him … What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts" (Mk 7, 14-15, 20-21). Beyond the immediate question concerning food, we can detect in the reaction of the Pharisees a permanent temptation within man: to situate the origin of evil in an exterior cause. Many modern ideologies deep down have this presupposition: since injustice comes "from outside," in order for justice to reign, it is sufficient to remove the exterior causes that prevent it being achieved. This way of thinking – Jesus warns – is ingenuous and shortsighted. Injustice, the fruit of evil, does not have exclusively external roots; its origin lies in the human heart, where the seeds are found of a mysterious cooperation with evil. With bitterness the Psalmist recognises this: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Ps 51,7). Indeed, man is weakened by an intense influence, which wounds his capacity to enter into communion with the other. By nature, he is open to sharing freely, but he finds in his being a strange force of gravity that makes him turn in and affirm himself above and against others: this is egoism, the result of original sin. Adam and Eve, seduced by Satan's lie, snatching the mysterious fruit against the divine command, replaced the logic of trusting in Love with that of suspicion and competition; the logic of receiving and trustfully expecting from the Other with anxiously seizing and doing on one's own (cf.Gn 3, 1-6), experiencing, as a consequence, a sense of disquiet and uncertainty. How can man free himself from this selfish influence and open himself to love?

Justice and Sedaqah

At the heart of the wisdom of Israel, we find a profound link between faith in God who "lifts the needy from the ash heap" (Ps 113,7) and justice towards one's neighbor. The Hebrew word itself that indicates the virtue of justice, sedaqah, expresses this well. Sedaqah, in fact, signifies on the one hand full acceptance of the will of the God of Israel; on the other hand, equity in relation to one's neighbour (cf. Ex 20, 12-17), especially the poor, the stranger, the orphan and the widow (cf. Dt 10, 18-19). But the two meanings are linked because giving to the poor for the Israelite is none other than restoring what is owed to God, who had pity on the misery of His people. It was not by chance that the gift to Moses of the tablets of the Law on Mount Sinai took place after the crossing of the Red Sea. Listening to the Law presupposes faith in God who first "heard the cry" of His people and "came down to deliver them out of hand of the Egyptians" (cf. Ex 3,8). God is attentive to the cry of the poor and in return asks to be listened to: He asks for justice towards the poor (cf. Sir 4,4-5, 8-9), the stranger (cf. Ex 22,20), the slave (cf. Dt 15, 12-18). In order to enter into justice, it is thus necessary to leave that illusion of self-sufficiency, the profound state of closure, which is the very origin of injustice. In other words, what is needed is an even deeper "exodus" than that accomplished by God with Moses, a liberation of the heart, which the Law on its own is powerless to realize. Does man have any hope of justice then?

Christ, the Justice of God

The Christian Good News responds positively to man's thirst for justice, as Saint Paul affirms in the Letter to the Romans: "But now the justice of God has been manifested apart from law … the justice of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith" (3, 21-25). What then is the justice of Christ? Above all, it is the justice that comes from grace, where it is not man who makes amends, heals himself and others. The fact that "expiation" flows from the "blood" of Christ signifies that it is not man's sacrifices that free him from the weight of his faults, but the loving act of God who opens Himself in the extreme, even to the point of bearing in Himself the "curse" due to man so as to give in return the "blessing" due to God (cf. Gal 3, 13-14). But this raises an immediate objection: what kind of justice is this where the just man dies for the guilty and the guilty receives in return the blessing due to the just one? Would this not mean that each one receives the contrary of his "due"? In reality, here we discover divine justice, which is so profoundly different from its human counterpart. God has paid for us the price of the exchange in His Son, a price that is truly exorbitant. Before the justice of the Cross, man may rebel for this reveals how man is not a self-sufficient being, but in need of Another in order to realize himself fully. Conversion to Christ, believing in the Gospel, ultimately means this: to exit the illusion of self-sufficiency in order to discover and accept one's own need – the need of others and God, the need of His forgiveness and His friendship. So we understand how faith is altogether different from a natural, good-feeling, obvious fact: humility is required to accept that I need Another to free me from "what is mine," to give me gratuitously "what is His." This happens especially in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Thanks to Christ's action, we may enter into the "greatest" justice, which is that of love (cf. Rm 13, 8-10), the justice that recognises itself in every case more a debtor than a creditor, because it has received more than could ever have been expected. Strengthened by this very experience, the Christian is moved to contribute to creating just societies, where all receive what is necessary to live according to the dignity proper to the human person and where justice is enlivened by love.

Dear brothers and sisters, Lent culminates in the Paschal Triduum, in which this year, too, we shall celebrate divine justice – the fullness of charity, gift, salvation. May this penitential season be for every Christian a time of authentic conversion and intense knowledge of the mystery of Christ, who came to fulfill every justice. With these sentiments, I cordially impart to all of you my Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 30 October 2009

 
 

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

 
 

© Copyright 2009 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Preparing for Lent

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season. It's the one day of the year when it's acceptable to go around with a dirty face – and I love any reason to get dirty :-)

Seriously, though, this season presents for all Christians a special opportunity to grow in our knowledge of self and knowledge of God, to right our path back towards the law of Christ, to reorder our soul according to the Gospel, and to prepare ourselves for the highlight of the Christian year: the Easter season. We are indeed an Easter people, and the highest celebration of the year is for good reason Easter Sunday, the celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the anticipation of our own glorious resurrection in Him.

As Catholics so often we have grown up hearing the question, "What are you giving up for Lent?" Lent is the season so associated with "giving up," and that's good. It is, among other things, a time of fasting and penance. But if that giving up is not suitably accompanied by reflection on what it means, the spiritual fruit of the Lenten season can and often is ultimately lost on us. That's why it is so important to go into Lent with a real game plan for how we will approach Lent from our end (not knowing, of course, how the Holy Spirit will approach it from His end).

I think a truly successful Lent will involve in some way the following characteristics: the three pillars of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving; daily dedication to self-reflection and examination of conscience; meditation on the Passion of Christ and/or the Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and frequency of the Sacraments. One thing we will find also is that often times in developing a Lenten plan that a real synergy comes about in the implementation, which I think you will see in the following.

The Three Pillars

1. Prayer
   

   In figuring out the game plan for prayer during Lent, it is important to first take an honest and searching assessment of our prayer life as it is now. On one hand, it wouldn't make any sense to plan to pray Morning and Evening Prayer (Lauds and Vespers) as part of our Lenten practice when we are already doing that regularly. However, if we are praying Lauds and Vespers only from the Liturgy of the Hours, perhaps we can add to that Compline (Night Prayer), and maybe also the Office of the Readings (I especially recommend the Office of the Readings as an addition to the special liturgical seasons, Lent, Easter, Advent and Christmas). Another great idea for prayer during Lent is the silent contemplative practice of the Jesus Prayer. For this I would strongly recommend as a great Lenten reading that will also guide one through the practice of the Jesus Prayer Fr. Martin Laird, OSA's most excellent book Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation. Certainly if one is not already daily praying the Rosary, doing so during Lent, and particularly focusing on the Sorrowful Mysteries, would be excellent. Same for the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
   

   The second thing to consider in developing the prayer aspect of the Lenten plan is not to be overzealous to the point of coming up with unrealistic goals. That is the purpose of the honest assessment of the current state of one's prayer life, so that not only does one not pretend to add things to the prayer routine that are already being done, but also so that one maintains a realistic expectation of a prayer life that will actually be followed diligently throughout the Lenten season.
   

2. Fasting
   

   This is typically the part where we think of "giving something up." It is certainly an intrinsic and essential component to any solid Lenten plan. This period of forty days of Lent is designed so as to imitate the forty days Christ spent in the desert, fasting and preparing for his mission. The Gospel of Mark puts it very succinctly, that after his baptism by John, "The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him." This highlights a very important facet of fasting that we often don't consider: when we fast, and when we do so prayerfully, it is almost certain that in some way or other we will encounter Satan. Satan recognizes that fasting is a great spiritual strength for us, and so he wants to do everything possible to turn it against us. He also recognizes that in moments of fasting we ourselves are weakened (which is necessary, because as St. Paul says, when we are weak the power of Christ is stronger within us – perhaps the ultimate fruit of fasting is that it enables us to grow more aware of our total dependence on Christ). So when we fast, it is important to do so with a special awareness of the nearness of temptation.
   

   There is a wonderful little book by Dag Tessore simply titled Fasting that can be a wonderful accompaniment to this seemingly lost ancient practice, a practice certainly preceding Christians by thousands of years, and one that has always held a prominent place in our faith. One thing I will say about fasting, and this is true whether or not one is engaging in a rigorous ascetical fast or is giving up something like chocolate or soda for Lent: whenever we find ourselves experiencing an urge for that from which we are abstaining, that urge should always be for us an invitation to prayer. This is where the old practice of "offering it up" can be extremely fruitful. When the urge strikes us, let that physical urge be a reminder to prayer, and in particular it is a great time to pray for those most in need, whether it be the souls in Purgatory, our priests, an increase in vocations, an end to abortion, for peace, for justice, and so forth. Fasting becomes particularly fruitful when it also is recognized as an invitation to prayer.
   

   One final word on fasting: there are those who for any variety of reasons are not able to fast from food. Do not let this be a discouragement to your Lenten plan. Fasting is a form of mortification, but it is not the only one. There are plenty of ways to engage in mortification that do not involve fasting. For instance, instead of fasting one could choose to sleep on the floor. The same idea above could still be applied, but instead of using the urgings as an invitation to prayer, perhaps throughout the day one might have a slight stiff neck from sleeping on the hard surface. When a conscious thought of the stiffness comes to one's mind, then this would be the moment to offer it up in prayer for some purpose. I'm sure one can find many other creative ways to engage in mortification (a cilice comes to mind, also). One note, though, that I think is especially important. If anyone might be drawn to the really ascetic forms of mortification such as self-flagellation, please, under no circumstances take this on without the guidance of a trustworthy spiritual director. This is an absolute must. Under no circumstances should anyone take on such a practice without spiritual direction.
   

3. Almsgiving
   

   Almsgiving has been understood in a variety of ways over the course of history, but primarily has been thought of as giving money. This certainly is a laudable manifestation of almsgiving. One way in particular that I find fruitful, and again this goes back to the development of synergy in our Lenten plan, is to make a rough calculation of how much money we would typically spend on the thing we are giving up for Lent, and give that money to a charity of choice. There are other ways to think of almsgiving, however. Instead of donating money, one could instead donate time. This could take the form of volunteering at a soup kitchen, or better yet, taking the time to each week write letters to one's representatives seeking an end to abortion, or a just health care bill, or the humane treatment of prisoners, et cetera. The main thing to consider is that we give something of ourselves, something of value, and do so in a spirit of charity, of love for neighbor. This also helps to foster a greater trust in God, a greater humility, and it helps to soften the heart in a way that allows the love of God to penetrate more deeply.
   

Self-reflection and Examination of Conscience

Each of the above pillars serve the purpose of emptying the soul of all impurities and allowing the soul to be filled with the Spirit of God. This can often be a painful process, as St. John of the Cross writes in both The Ascent of Mount Carmel and The Dark Night. The spiritual growth that comes with a greater devotion to the three pillars both naturally leads to greater self-reflection and examination of conscience, and also requires a focused dedication to it. This habit of daily self-reflection, and even several times a day examination of conscience, is an important way to process everything that is stirring within the heart, to examine where we experience our greatest weaknesses, where we need to root out sin in our life, and where we are most vulnerable to temptation. This reflection should always be followed with a prayer seeking forgiveness (and act of contrition of some sort), and because, as I mentioned earlier, the devil is especially active during these penitential seasons of fasting, it is especially important, I believe, that whenever we recognize that we have sinned against another that we make amends for that as soon and as prudently as possible. If not, the devil will pounce on that brooding sin within us and make it that much more difficult for us to do what is right. Sin is in many ways like an addiction, a spiritual addiction, and so it is no surprise that the wisdom of this practice is recognized as one of the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Step 10 demands that the alcoholic, "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it." This is a good habit to develop for all sinners, and is especially necessary, I believe, during the season of Lent, so as to deny the devil any opportunity to work on us.

Meditation on the Passion of Christ and the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This probably belongs under the heading of prayer, but I have singled this out because the section on prayer is meant to be a daily inclusion to one's Lenten practice, where as this particular facet often might be something one does on the Fridays of Lent, or in some other weekly routine. But it is greatly beneficial to the soul if at least once a week during Lent one make a particular devotional practice and meditation on the Passion of Christ and/or the Seven Sorrows of Mary. This can mean praying the Stations of the Cross, or spending time in prayer before the crucifix. Often times parishes will have a communal devotion to the Seven Sorrows and/or to the Stations, so this are certainly things to consider. But this Lenten season is obviously leading up to Good Friday (and ultimately obviously Easter Sunday), and the Passion of Christ is of heightened spiritual significance during this season. And because the lives and the hearts of Jesus and Mary are so intimately united, a devotion to the Sorrows of Mary during this season is equally heightened in significance, and will bear great fruit in teaching the heart how to properly mourn for the Passion of Christ.

Frequency of the Sacraments

Finally, during this Lenten season, for starters, if we are not already in the habit of going to Mass every Sunday, Lent is a perfect time to come back fully to the Church and begin making Sunday Mass a regular part of our lives. For those who are already going every Sunday, but perhaps do not ever make it during the week, if there is any way that our schedule might allow, even if it involves being creative, this is a great time to attend daily Mass, even if only one day a week, whether a weekday or a Saturday. Because Saturdays are particularly days of devotion to Mary, this might be a great way to include the devotion to the Seven Sorrows, by first going to daily Mass on Saturday morning, and then spending some time in guided meditation on the Sorrows of Mary (this link from above is one excellent guide that I found online. A Google search can certainly quickly find many more). It is important to remember the sacrificial nature of the Mass, meaning that the Eucharist is always directly connected to the Cross of Christ, and the Eucharist is the true Bread of Heaven, the Body of Christ that was instituted on Holy Thursday and given for the many, so that we might partake in the divine nature of Christ and be made holy in Him.

In addition to a greater devotion to the Eucharist and when possible greater attendance of daily Mass, the Lenten season is also a wonderful time to renew our participation in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This is a great time to begin going to confession every week, and in fact the grace of the Sacrament is a tremendous aid in our battle against sin and temptation that is especially heightened during this time. Find out when your parish has weekly confessions, and often during Lent these times are increased, perhaps an extra day is added. And if you are unable to make the regularly scheduled times, don't ever hesitate to call and make an appointment with a priest to hear your confession – remember, that's his job! Regular confession is important to for every Catholic, and it is especially important during the season of Lent.

I hope this guide will be helpful for those preparing for Lent. My hope is each day to post short readings from the saints or other great spiritual writers as an additional Lenten aid. My prayers are for all the Church, that during this season of Lent we may all grow more self-aware and more God-aware, that the Spirit of Christ may purify the Church and make us holy, so that we may be better prepared to proclaim the glory of the Resurrection when Easter finally comes.