For those of us who need
practical motivation for earnestly participating in this liturgical and penitential season of Lent, I offer this small reflection.
Hopefully, most people know what are the Pillars of Lent (anyone, anyone,
Bueler?). They are prayer, fasting and
amlsgiving. Now, I am aware that my ideas can sometimes be a bit...underwhelming, but this always struck me as a strange thing to say as I grew and tried to figure out in my own mind the significance of our precious faith. I knew that prayer was supposed to be something we did with great frequency, that we had to fast at least 1 hour before attending Mass, and that a ten percent tithe was all but expected of faithful Catholics. So I asked myself, although without so much clarity, "Why are these "normal" things the Pillars of Lent? Should not this season be full of extraordinary, monumental, heroic actions and liturgical functions? Why don't we fast for 40 entire days, as Christ did in the desert, or make some ritual, bloody sacrifice for atonement, as is required in the Jewish Law?"
Upon hearing one particularly erudite homily, it became clear to me that this is exactly the point. While it is true that Lent is a time for evaluation,
penance and re-commitment, it is also meant to be a liturgical microcosm of the
normality of trials and suffering in our lives. The Church, the Body of Christ, in her wisdom, wants to show that every little "down" that we encounter is an opportunity for growth in virtue and holiness. The life of the Church is not unconnected with our lives in the world; indeed, they are one and the same! And so, Lent is offered to us as a reminder that difficulties and obstacles (such as a 40% drop in stock market values) should be
expected, in the sense that we should be prepared to embrace them as opportunities for spiritual profit. For, in the end, retirement is only temporary, while that bliss and final rest, for which Lent helps to ready us, is unending.
