Every car or truck carries in the glove compartment a
maintenance schedule. Having your oil
changed, your tires rotated and balanced, and the rest of the engine checked
keeps your vehicle in excellent shape.
This Wednesday, we begin one of the most practical
times of the Catholic liturgical year.
Lent provides us an opportunity to open our personal maintenance
schedule and take a close look at ourselves as we journey towards eternal life.
The spiritual life is not an easy endeavor because of
our wounded human nature. True, Baptism
washes away Original Sin, but we do not have complete control over
ourselves. Saint Paul brilliantly
describes this continual battle. He portrays this conflict as an inward
struggle (Romans 7: 14-25), a treasure in a vessel of clay (2 Corinthians 4:
7-18), and a thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12: 7-10).
Because of Original Sin, an inner force will always
move us in the wrong direction.
Continual effort is necessary to control the inner movement of our ego,
and allow the presence of grace to take control of our thoughts, desires and
actions.
The battle of the spiritual life is like
walking in a river against the current.
If we do not continue to walk or grab on to a rock, the current will
carry us in the opposite direction. Lent
provides us with an excellent opportunity to strengthen ourselves so that we
can keep walking against the current.
A successful Lent requires us to develop a
serious plan of action. Our program
should consist of both the general practices that the Catholic Church requires
of everyone, and our own particular Lenten program.
As a general practice for all Catholics,
the Church requires that we fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. We are also asked to abstain from meat on Ash
Wednesday and all Fridays of Lent.
Aside from what the Church law of fast and abstinence
requires of us, we should come up with a personal program for spiritual
growth. This is our personal maintenance
program. I have always recommended that
we come up with something negative and something positive.
By something negative, I mean that each person should
commit themselves to giving up something or a number of things. This sacrifice should be serious and
demanding. The self-control that we
exercise in giving up a legitimate pleasure strengthens our will and curbs the
inclinations of our passions.
By something positive, I mean that each one should
also do some kind of act that we would not normally do on a regular basis. Attending daily Mass, visiting the sick,
volunteering time at the parish or praying a Sunday evening Rosary with the
entire family are positive acts of virtue that have helped many people progress
in their relationship with God.
Lenten practices of penance have great benefits for
our spiritual lives. A serious Lent will
be like a spring cleaning which will purify the clutter that has accumulated in
our souls. A serious commitment to
penance will also help us to conquer addictions, obsessions and compulsive
behavior. A serious Lent will purify our
soul and allow us to experience a deeper interior freedom.
As we approach the beginning of another Lent, we
should carefully examine our lives.
Usually we focus on carefully examining our sins, but do we ever
consider the sins of omission? Do we
honestly consider what we are not doing?
One way to break the cycle of apathy is to bring into
your Lent an apostolic dimension.
This can be done by making two firm commitments: pray the Rosary at your local
abortion clinic and target one person that does not have a church home. Invite that person to your parish.
.
Moreover, it would be very powerful if we would offer
up our fast, abstinence, Lenten sacrifices and our weekly Stations of the Cross
to the Lord as of way of ending abortion and bringing souls back to the
Church.
Do not wait until Ash Wednesday to come up with your Lenten
program. Decide today what you are going
to do. Parents should sit down with
their children and make sure that they too have come up with a serious plan of
action. Have a family meeting tonight
and decide together to make this Lent the best Lent ever. Meet as a family every Sunday during Lent and
review your program. Be accountable to
each other. If you make this a great
Lent you will notice the difference on Easter Sunday.
No comments:
Post a Comment