The Opportunity of Lent

Posted by Deacon Mike Bickerstaff • March 6, 2011

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On Ash Wednesday we will begin our observance of the penitential season of Lent. What better time to turn away from our dependency on the world and towards a life of trust and hope in the Lord! The Lord’s Sermon shows us how. We are to practice a detachment from the attractions of the world. This means that we are to turn away from disordered attractions, not all attractions. Not all who are poor find the blessedness that comes only from God, for even the poor can have a disordered attraction for wealth. Not all who are rich are automatically condemned; some know how to apply their wealth for the common good without having a disordered attachment to it.

During the coming penitential season, we are called to embrace and practice the three pillars of Lent – prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Lent is most of all to be a time of deep conversion for us. These three pillars are central to this conversion and our surrender to the Lord. They are inseparable from one another.

Prayer

There is much interest in prayer, but do we really pray as we should? Do we even know how to pray? It is one of the questions I most frequently hear from Catholics; "Can you help me learn to pray? Can you help me find time to pray?" Admitting there is too little space here to give a detailed answer, let's just commit this Lent to do it. The Church teaches that Christian meditation should be one of our primary expressions of prayer – for a beginner, that means simply thinking about a truth of the faith, a Person of God, an event in the life of Christ, a passage of scripture, etc. Here are some tried and true ways to do this.

•On a daily basis, pray the Rosary. Why not pray the rosary together with your family this Lent? After the evening meal, gather as a family (or with friends) and pray the vocal prayers of the rosary while thinking about (meditating on) the mysteries – those major events in Christ's life.

•On a weekly basis – Friday is an excellent choice – do the same with the Stations of the Cross. There are many good meditations for the Stations, but I particularly benefit from the prayers and meditations of The Way of the Cross by St. Francis of Assisi. A copy of this is easy to find on the internet.

•Don't rush through the prayers. Spend time in them. And make these prayers a priority in your daily schedule. Remember, you were not made for earth, but for heaven. Nothing is more important, other than Christ to Whom you pray, for you to know. And by praying together as a family, you will teach your children What and Who is most important.

Fasting

Fasting and other forms of self-denial, as spiritual practices of materially subduing and controlling the physical appetites of the body, helps us, by God’s grace, to enable the soul to more perfectly and freely pray. I leave it to you to decide what form your fasting will take; reducing consumption of food items, giving up television, going without that unneeded purchase. This is the connection of fasting to prayer and it is the secret to a better, deeper, more joyful life in Christ. But fasting is also connected to almsgiving, for what we save through material fasting and the time saved by giving up a particular activity can be redirected to those who are in greater need. What a wonderful gift to give yourself and your children! If you have children, meet together as a family and explain what you are doing and why? Make it a family project.

Almsgiving

As I mentioned, fasting enables giving, so let us commit to living within our means, not just for our financial well-being, but also for the good of others. Our children best learn who they are to be by seeing who their parents really are. Let them see us doing without excessive spending so as to remain within our budgets. But especially let them see us doing without even things we can afford so as to help those who have less. Let us commit to avoiding occasions of sin such as immoral movies, but also let them see us spending more time in family prayer and service to others and less in excessive entertainment. This opens our hearts to the needs of others.

All for the Love of God

None of these three pillars means anything if not motivated by and through an ever-deepening love for God. Show our children and others what motivates us… the love of God and our love for Him. It is in this practice of the virtues that we overcome, by God’s grace, the practice of vice and possess the blessedness of God. Give ourselves to God, surrender fully to Him, and then we will be rich in what counts.

May you have a blessed Lenten season.

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