On March 2, 2022, Ash Wednesday, the Catholic Church enters the Season of Lent. Lent is a time of prayer and penance in preparation for the great feast of Easter, but it is also like a medicine for each one of us to help restore us to health and to rectify areas of our lives that need healing. Traditionally, the actions of Lent fall into three categories: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We might ask, however: why are these important? Let us take a look.
No Strange Gods | Casting all Idols from their Thrones
So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” … And this thing became a sin, for the people went to the one at Bethel and to the other as far as Dan.[i]
See the whole passage | 1 Kings 12:25-33 | Jeroboam’s Golden Calves
As baptized Catholics, we are endowed with a priestly character by baptism. This enables us to worship God and to enter the life of the Sacraments. Our praise and worship of God is due to Him, but it adds nothing to Him. Prayer, praise, and worship change us. It gives us a right perspective on our relationship to God. It is easy to develop problems in terms of making priorities in one’s life. Any of us can develop little “idols.” Lent is a time for us to get to the root of the problem—our little idols—and turn back to God with all our hearts. The mark made with the imposition of ashes is part of this as we hear in the liturgy, “Remember, you are dust and to dust you will return.”[ii]
The Fast I Desire | Conversion of Heart
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh[iii]
See the whole text | Isaiah 58:6-11
What is the purpose of fasting? While some will extol the physical health benefits of fasting, there are spiritual benefits as well when it is done with the right disposition and attitude. Depriving oneself of something good helps train our wills to seek the reality beyond self-will and pleasure. As it cuts against my self-will and I make an offering of that act (that is, I offer it to God as an act of worship), fasting can help me train my focus on God. These acts of love and offering for God should also be manifest in how I treat those with whom I live, that is, my neighbor.
With the theme of the Old Testament verse above, it does us no good to “fast,” if all that comes from it is own will or willfulness. Fasting is about helping us to look beyond ourselves to the needs of others.
Works of Mercy | Called to Love as We have been Loved
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”[iv]
See the whole text | Luke 6: 27-38 | Love for Enemies - Judging Others
Jesus is the ultimate example of the one who gives even to those who reject Him. Well before his Passion, He is teaching us in these passages above from St. Luke’s Gospel to love everyone generously. For Jesus says to His disciples, “You received without pay, give without pay.” [v] He has given us everything in our Baptism; He loves us with an everlasting love. He sends us forth to be His love in the world. We are called to let this love transform us so that we can be a loving expression of His presence in the world and to proclaim the Kingdom of God.
[i] “1 Kings 12:25-33 RSVCE .” Bible Gateway. Accessed February 21, 2022. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Kings%2B12&version=RSVCE.
[ii][ii] “Ash Wednesday Liturgy According to the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.” Ash Wednesday. Accessed February 20, 2022. http://www.liturgies.net/Lent/ashwednesdayrc.htm.
[iii] “Isaiah 58:6-11 – Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition.” Bible Gateway. Accessed February 20, 2022. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+58%3A6-11&version=RSVCE.
[iv] “Lk 6:27-38 RSVCE.” Bible Gateway. Accessed February 21, 2022. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=%2BLk%2B6%3A27-38&version=RSVCE.
[v] Matthew 10:9 RSVCE.
Posted for Ash Wednesday
March 2, 2022
