Browsing The Seed

And We're Off!

Growing up, I must admit: Lent was not my favorite. I always gave up sweets, but it was a real struggle for me. I became a master of “justification” - by about week two or three of Lent, I’d be whipping up a loaf of pumpkin or banana bread, which of course “didn’t count” as a sweet because it was technically “bread”. But as I’ve grown in age (and hopefully wisdom and grace), Lent has become a truly blessed time of year. I understand it now, not so much as a season of denial, but as it really is: a season of grace. Certainly, there is still the need to deny myself certain pleasures, but I understand that denial more positively: by denying myself and leaving an “open space” in my life, I am not left empty, but rather there is now a space for God to fill that I would have otherwise filled up with something other than Him. This is the real goal of the fasting and abstinence we are called to undertake during Lent. Our Faith actually requires us to fast (from meals) and practice abstinence (i.e. “abstaining from meat”), which is the 5th Precept of the Church.

What is the purpose of Lent?

The reason for this precept is that, through fasting and abstinence, these “spiritual exercises” of penance strengthen us in spirit and help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart. And the greater mastery we have over ourselves - the greater our freedom of heart - the better we can love. Lent is a season that invites us, through self-discipline (done entirely out of love for God), to an experience of greater freedom, so that we can be free to love as we are made to love. Lent is not essentially a season of denial: it is a season of freedom and love, a season of grace. As we all begin the struggle “to put off the old man” (Eph 4:22), let us support one another in prayer, and when any of us feels weak in our Lenten disciplines, remember: you are doing this for love, you are doing this because you love God and you love your neighbor, and these practices will give you greater freedom to love them in a more wholehearted manner because you will win back more of your heart with which to love. May God bless you in the week ahead and may Mother Mary lead you more deeply into the Sacred and Merciful Heart of Jesus.

In Christ,
Fr. Hess

 

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