Forty Days and Forty Nights

Here we are, closing in on the holy season of Lent.  It is the great time that Christians use to reorient our lives to Christ in preparation to celebrate the Resurrection on Easter.

During a recent conversation with a friend, I mentioned that I am planning on abstaining from alcohol during Lent (a great personal sacrifice) save for St. Patrick's Day, when I plan to enjoy a healthy glass of Irish whiskey in honor of the great saint.  These Lenten plans conjured the comment, "Good idea, because Jesus came out of the desert during those 40 days."

That response brought something to mind:  We have a strange understanding of Lent.

First of all, the liturgical season of Lent is not even literally 40 days long.  Go ahead and count from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday and see what number you get.  (Sorry; that was a trick.  Lent ends before Easter.)  Second, "giving up" good things during Lent beyond the Church's fasting and abstinence requirements is only a voluntary--albeit spiritually beneficial--custom.  So should I chose to break my Lenten observance of abstaining from alcohol in order to remember St. Patrick in a traditional Irish way, I am free to do so.  And keep in mind, giving up alcohol is not the only penitential act I am performing during Lent, so I am still observing the penitential nature of the season.

We also seem to forget the baptismal focus of the season.  Lent began as time of preparation for those entering the Church at the Easter Vigil, and during the first 1500 years of Christianity, that meant those who had never been baptized.  Those converts had to not only learn about the Faith but also make public acts of penitence and conversion as ways to show their sincerity.  Think of Lent as the original RCIA program, which the Church, in her wisdom, soon saw as a good, holy and fruitful practice to extend to all Christians.

So we should understand Lent as a time to refocus on our baptismal commitment to Jesus as well as to use increased prayer, fasting and almsgiving in order to free ourselves from distractions and be renewed by the fundamental event of human history:  Christ's Resurrection from the grave and triumph over Death.

Unfortunately it seems that many of our churches emphasize a gimmicky "desert experience," complete with sand in the sanctuary and dry holy water fonts (the latter of which not only creates a disconnect between the baptismal character of the sacramental and the season but also is expressly prohibited). And so, without plumbing the theological depths of the season, Lent can easily seem dry and lifeless.

Find all your Lenten questions answered here, and some ideas for acts of penance here!

Keep the Fast; keep the Feast.

Without Gloss

Last weekend was the Archdiocese of Denver's Living the Catholic Faith Conference. This year's theme was "Live with Conviction" and focused on St. Paul's love of and zeal for Christ.

I must say that I was certainly convicted by Abp. Chaput's homily during Friday morning's opening Mass. Here's what I remember; since it was Mass, I wasn't taking notes.

The Archbishop began his reflection on the day's readings by discussing a little-used definition of the word "gloss:" a brief explanation of an obscure or difficult word or expression. During the Middle Ages, Scripture was often accompanied by gloss (akin to biblical commentary) that tended to explain away the teachings of the Faith. He also quoted his spiritual father, St. Francis, who instructed his brothers to follow his order's Rule "simply and without gloss."

Lent is a time, the Archbishop said, to strip away the excuses we use to water down the Gospel. We can be aided in this through fasting, as heard in the day's Gospel reading, and he suggested that we might do well to observe more than the minimum Lenten requirements.

Abp. Chaput also focused on the words from Isaiah: "Cry out full-throated and unsparingly/lift up your voice like a trumpet blast/Tell my people their wickedness/and the house of Jacob their sins." It is not enough for a Christian to get ashes on his forehead--whether a layman, bishop or "the vice-president of the country"--but not preach the Gospel to the world. We were instructed to repent of our own sins and then publicly fight the evils of the world, unsparingly and without gloss, because this is what is demanded of us by the Lord.

He closed by entreating, "Let us begin, for we have done nothing yet."

Indeed, I have not.

The Week That Changed the World

Here it is, Palm Sunday, when we triumphantly enter Jerusalem with the Christ. By the end of the week, we will be shouting, "Crucify him! Crucify him!"

I was in Fort Collins last night, searching for a new tie for Easter (but instead I got new black slacks) and stopped in at Barnes and Noble. My trips to bookstores used to take me to the philosophy section; now I always check out the religion stacks.

Here, on the eve of the holiest days of the year, Barnes and Noble had packed the shelves with fiction and non-fiction books that cry out not only "Crucify him!" but also "He is not Lord! The Catholic Church has lied about who he is!" These books include Misquoting Jesus, What Jesus Meant, The Jesus Papers, The Templar Legacy, The Last Templar, The Gospel of Judas, Holy Blood Holy Grail, Angels and Demons, and a huge table devoted entirely to The Da Vinci Code. Apparently these are the recommended books for Easter.

Yet nowhere could I find the new Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a 200 page Q and A summation of the essential truths of the Faith.

Fine. Set out books that attempt to dash Christ and His Church to bits; all I ask is that we are given equal representation.

If you want to see who Jesus really was, if you want to know what the Church really teaches, then attend the great liturgy of the Holy Triduum this week. Rejoice in the gift of His Body and Blood on Holy Thursday; weep for your sins that crucified Him on Good Friday; cry "Alleluia!" on the Night of nights, Holy Saturday Easter Vigil; proclaim His Resurrection on Easter Sunday morning.

No book will teach you the truth of Jesus of Nazareth. To know Him, you must enter into the Week that changed the world.

Seth, Who Throughout These Forty Days

Ash Wednesday is upon us; my forehead is still smudged from Mass this morning; my stomach hasn't rumbled recently. These are all good things.

I am excited for Lent--which I suppose sounds nerdy or too Jesusy for some--but I sure could use this period of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to refocus not just my spiritual life but everything that I do.

Catholics (and sometimes other Christians) usually ask one another,"What are you giving up for Lent?" I'm not sure why we're so interesting in what each other is abstaining from. But since you're curious, this is what I'm doing for Lent:

• Adding Night Prayer to regular routine of Morning and Evening Prayer
  
• Fasting and abstaining on Fridays
  
• Fasting throughout Holy Week
  
• Reading one book per week of a spiritual topic

To aid in these practices, I've got to do a few less spiritually-oriented things, most notedly restricting TV viewing to no more than five hours per week.

I'm not telling you all this to toot my own horn or contradict Jesus' words in today's Gospel ("Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them...") but to give examples of how one specific Christian goes about rending his heart.

Trust me, there's nothing haughty about admitting one's own sinfulness and attempting reparation.

Whew, Ash Wednesday has come and gone, and we're still standing. St. Stephen's had over a thousand people total come through the doors for all four services. Catholics come out of the woodwork at the beginning of Lent, but then we don't see them for the rest of the 40 days. So as people were leaving after getting ashes, Sr. Mary Lou smiled and said, "See you on Sunday!"

I'm most excited about getting exposition of the Blessed Sacrament going Wednesdays during Lent. Hopefully, people will take advantage of this special encounter with the Lord. Spread the word. I'm a little afraid that no one knows what to do during Eucharistic adoration, so I'm looking for resources, reading material, whatever, to help guide people's prayer. If anybody has suggestions, I'd appreciate them.

In non-Jesus-related news, Luke is coming back to CF tonight to nurse his broken car back to health. I've got to work until 8:00 so Corey will have to keep him busy, but I think we're going out to some classy establishment for drinks afterward.

Good times, good times.