Not Catholic? Great! Read this about Lent. Catholic? You too!

Today is Ash Wednesday, and once again we begin Lent.

Now if you're not Catholic, watching Catholics this time of year can be confusing, and I know that for some it even becomes frustrating.

Even if you're Catholic, you might not be clear about what the purpose of Lent is. Maybe you just do the same thing over and over again each year without a real plan just because that's what you've always done. Maybe you're just doing what you think the Church tells you to do.

"Tells you to do?" Yeh, that can be a real hangup if you're not Catholic. But that's also why you stand to benefit greatly from observing Lenten practices; maybe more than many of your Catholic friends.

Well, what I am saying is that the real benefit of the Lenten journey is the result of an interior desire to improve your relationship with God. That means doing it because it's the right thing to do and you want to do it.

Improving your relationship with God is about conversion, an on-going process of conforming to the Christian life. That means conversion really relates to our disposition with ourselves and others as well as with God.

We accomplish conversion through examination of conscience, admitting our faults, reconciliation, spiritual direction, empathy and action with regard to the poor and suffering, working for and defending what is right and just, enduring suffering and persecution ("take up your cross daily"), etc.

During Lent, we give special attention to the need for prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. I've used the term "rightly ordered" before, and I will use it here again. To be clear, this means the correct order of things. Rightly ordered, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are expressions of interior penance.

In Matthew 6: 1-18, Jesus presents the proper order as coming from within. Some people get hung up on what He states not to do, but the point He makes is to DO them, but to do them from the heart, the interior.

Now that penance word. Penance expresses our contrition for our sins and our intention to turn away from sin and our attachment to it. Interior penance is best expressed through - you guessed it - prayer, fasting, and almsgivng.

So if the correct order comes from within, why does the Church insist Catholics focus more closely on these during Lent? Because we're human. We have a tendency to forget and/or neglect how to do something without practice.

That is why we say we are "practicing penance." Hopefully, if we practice well enough, we'll get good at it and begin to do it on our own. Perhaps recognizing the benefits of the outward actions will prompt the interior motivation I have been speaking of.

Okay, so today is Ash Wednesday. It's a day of fasting and abstinence. And there'll be more abstaining on Fridays during Lent. You probably get the "fasting" part, but "abstinence?"

Abstaining from meat is a form of penance. It is a very small sacrifice which reminds us of THE sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

When the Church says "do not eat meat on Fridays during Lent", unfortunately it is the outward act which receives the attention. However, the Church is giving us this very small and very simple directive, a precept of the Church, to help us to recognize that we are to grow, to mature beyond a small mandate onto deeper expressions which spring from the interior conversion of the heart.

Enough for today. I hope you find this useful.

Lent: Beyond Requirement to the Open Arms of Jesus

Last month I started a Friday series about the reasons we abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays during Lent. The point was to just point out the very basics and to give us something deeper to contemplate.

We are nearing the completion of our Lenten journey, and I think there's plenty of material to think about, so let's just re-visit the basics of the series. I've linked the titles back to each post as well.

What Do You Mean You Don't Eat No Meat During Lent!?

In the simplest sense, abstaining from meat is a very small SACRIFICE which reminds us of THE sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

Where's the Beef?

Abstaining from meat is a form of PENANCE While abstaining is a reminder to us of the need for penance in our lives, ultimately Jesus calls us to penance which is prompted by, preceded by the interior conversion. Rightly ordered, it is the interior which prompts the exterior.

Feasting on Simplicity

Abstaining from meat is a way to practice SIMPLICITY. Properly approached, abstaining from meat should be offered along with contemplative prayer. Contemplative prayer focuses our attention on Heavenly things, fixing our eyes, our hearts on Jesus so that we can hear the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Assessing Ascesis

Abstaining from meat is a way to practice ASCETICISM. It's true that the Church has put a requirement upon us during Lent. However, as previously stated, it is not intended to impose authority upon us, but to help us to ascend to this higher good, to choose to go beyond requirement and to choose for one's self.

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In all of these instances that I have been writing about, we are practicing something, and practice is a good word here. We are practicing something, learning that there is a deeper meaning to what we are doing. We should be recognizing that abstaining from meat is a simple way toward understanding how to direct other things in our lives, other actions, even our very selves toward God. 

Lent: Where's the Beef?

When I was a Junior in high school, Wendy's had a hit television commercial. In it, three ladies receive their burgers from a competitor. The ladies seemingly receive huge burgers. However, when the crowns of the buns are lifted, it is revealed that the patties are so tiny that they are almost undetectable. This prompts one of them to angrily ask "Where's the beef?"

The phrase has been used repeatedly in various formats, so it is more than likely that some have used the phrase having no idea of its origin.

The same may hold true for many who abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays during Lent; doing it but not really knowing why.

Last week, I decided to dedicate short posts on Fridays during Lent to briefly examine why we abstain from meat on these particular days. In that first post, I stated

In the simplest sense, abstaining from meat is a very small sacrifice which reminds us of THE sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

Abstaining from meat is a form of PENANCE 

The Holy Spirit brings our sins to light, and although this rightly brings conviction, it is the same Spirit, which is the Consoler, Who gives us the Grace which prompts our repentance and aids in our ongoing conversion.

Penance expresses our contrition for our sins and our intention to turn away from sin and our attachment to it. If we are abstaining without ever giving thought as to why we are abstaining, we are completely missing the point.

While abstaining is a reminder to us of the need for penance in our lives, ultimately Jesus calls us to penance which is prompted by, preceded by the interior conversion. Rightly ordered, it is the interior which prompts the exterior.

When the Church says "do not eat meat on Fridays during Lent", unfortunately it is the outward act which receives the attention. However, the Church is giving us this very small and very simple directive, a precept of the Church, to help us to recognize that we are to grow, to mature beyond a small mandate onto deeper expressions which spring from the interior conversion of the heart.
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Related posts:
What Do You Mean You Don't Eat No Meat During Lent!?
Are you convicted, accused, or left alone?

Why does the Catholic Church focus so much on sin?

This is my second year preparing second grade children to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I have been sending follow-up e-mails to their parents each week, explaining what we just learned.

This past lesson was on making good choices. We discussed contrition, the difference between mistakes and accidents and sin, the different kinds of sins, and making a good examination of conscience. These are very young children, but they have a pretty good grasp of this information believe it or not.

While composing the e-mail to the parents, I really felt compelled to say something to them about sin and the Catholic Church's motivation for helping us to think about our sins. Here it is, unmodified for this blog posting.

Many times we can wonder why the Catholic Church seems to want us to focus so much on sin. This may be the most important note I can ever pass on to you and to the children: The Church does not want us to beat ourselves up about sin. The Church does not want us to think about our sins so that we feel like we are bad people. The reason that we should think about our sins (examination of conscience) is to find the areas of our life we need to fix in order to heal our relationship with God and to be with Him for eternity; to learn to do better. A good examination of Conscience is a positive thing. It is looking at the way God wants me to live, to compare that to the way I have been living, so that I recognize where I have gotten off track and need to refocus on particular areas of my life, striving to do better with His Grace. And even more, going to God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation is real healing; God's forgiveness and Mercy understood in this way is real power. Like a good parent, the Church wants only the very best for us, what is most important. There is nothing more important than the salvation of souls. This is the mission of the Church., and it is precisely out of love that we are called to this great Sacrament.