Blessed Lent and a Prayer Request

[Fr. Thomas Koller]

Blessed Springtime of Prayer, Fasting and Works of Mercy, everyone! Here is a prayer request from a friend:

Thank you for praying for my friend Jaina and her unborn baby boy.  Jaina is now in the 22nd week of pregnancy-thanks be to God.

Please continue to pray for her and her baby, especially during Lent.  I sent the prayer for the intercession of Fr. Augustus Tolton when I first contacted you.  Please continue to pray for his intercession.

Jaina found out that instead of having three blood vessels in the umbilical cord, there are only two. That, combined with the other issues she has been experiencing, has lead the doctor to deem this a “high risk” pregnancy.  She is not on bed rest for fear of blood clots. 

Jaina said she was told that babies who have two blood vessels in the umbilical cord are susceptible to growth issues, genetic problems, and heart problems.  On her previous labs, there did not seem to be an indication of genetic concerns.

However, there are babies who are perfectly healthy who have two blood vessels in their umbilical cords.

 Jaina is very worried and stressed due to their only being two vessels in the umbilical cord.

Thank you for reading this lengthy email and for your continued prayers.  Please forward this to your communities, friends, etc. who would be willing to pray for Jaina and her baby.  Let’s please also pray for Feliks-Jaina’s husband. [end of prayer request]

And here are some thoughts about Lent:

In case you think this will help your friends and relatives , allow me to pass on to you a worry I keep hearing and my response to it. (I know....you're thinking, "I've heard this song before!")

 

People ask "Are Sundays a part of Lent, or not? How do we count the 40 days? Are we supposed to break our Lenten discipline on Sundays?" 

 

Going from the Roman Missal, I respond this way: 

 

Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, but the 40 days that we follow Jesus into the desert of prayer, fasting and works of mercy don't start, strictly speaking, until the First Sunday of Lent. And Sundays are definitely a part of Lent. The Sacramentary speaks of "Ash Wed., Thurs. after Ash Wed., Fri. after Ash Wed., Sat. after Ash Wed., First Sunday OF Lent (not "in Lent"). So the Church thinks that Sundays are a part OF Lent. And, in fact, if you start counting from the First Sunday of Lent and include every day, you will hit 40 days on Thursday of Holy Week. The Church says that Lent ends when the celebration of the Mass of the Lord's Supper begins on Holy Thursday evening, at which point the most important season of the Church year begins: the Paschal Triduum, the core of the whole liturgical year. 

 

Yet St. John Chrysostom and others speak of Sundays during Lent as those special days when we can take a little break from our fasting (and in his day people did some hard-core fasting), using the image of the ship coming in to port to take on fresh supplies so as to be able to make it all the way to the end of the journey. So on Sundays during Lent we can indeed take a little break from fasting (without going overboard and treating it like Easter Sunday). But why would we want also to take a break from whatever particular Lenten practice of prayer, abstention (from sweets, or meat, or coffee or cigarettes or TV, as some people do) and corporal or spiritual mercy the Holy Spirit has inspired us to do?? We're trying to follow Jesus, our Good Shepherd and Captain, in His 40-day desert battle, and He didn't lay down His arms every 7th day during those 40 days. 

 

"There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting, and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting, these three are one, and they give life to each other. 

   Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others you open God's ear to yourself. 

   When you fast, see the fasting of others. If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery."   (St. Peter Chrysologus, bishop, Lent-Easter breviary, p. 231)

 

The corporal works of mercy are

 

1. feed the hungry

2. give drink to the thirsty

3. clothe the naked

4. shelter the homeless

5. visit the sick

6. visit the imprisoned

7. bury the dead

 

and the spiritual works of mercy are

 

1.admonish the sinner

2. instruct the ignorant

3. counsel the doubtful

4. comfort the sorrowful

5. bear wrongs patiently

6. forgive all injuries

7. pray for the living and the dead

ASH WEDNESDAY AND THE 40 DAYS OF LENT

Each year on Ash Wednesday we let the priest mark our foreheads with ashes. We do this for two reasons. First, ashes are a sign of repentance. They indicate that we are sorry for our sins and that we will do penance for them during Lent. This explains why the priest may say, when he marks us with ashes, “Turn away from your sins and be faithful to the Gospel.” Second, ashes are a sign of our mortality. They indicate that we will die someday. To understand this second sign, recall that right after Adam and Eve sinned, God said to them: “Because of what you have done…you [will] to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from soil [dust] and you will become soil [dust] again.” (Genesis 3, 17. 19) This explains why the priest may also say, when he marks us with ashes, “You are dust and to dust you shall return.”

   And so the ashes we will receive in a few minutes have a two-fold meaning. First, they are a sign of our repentance. They say that we are sorry for our sins and will do penance for them during Lent. Second, they are a sign of our mortality. They say that we will die someday and have to give an account of our lives to God.

   This brings us to what we will do during Lent. For those who have completed their 18th year up to and through 59 years of age the Church prescribes a minimal penance of fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (one full meal and two other meals that together do not equal one full meal). And for everyone 14 years and over, the Church prescribes abstinence from meat on all Fridays during Lent.

   This leaves each of us to decide what added personal penance we will perform to show our sorrow for sin and our gratitude for the gift of baptism and the desire to live out more fully that new life in Christ Jesus.—Illustrated Daily Homilies, Father Mark Link, S.J., 25402 p.17; 25342 p. 17; 25372 p. 17 (adapted)

“When you fast, hide your fasting.” (Matthew 6) Our big danger today is not that we will fast and make a show of it. Our big danger is that we will not fast at all. We think fasting is harmful. In his book Fasting: The Ultimate Diet. Dr. Allen Cott takes issue with this notion. He insists fasting does not harm adult health. On the contrary, it often benefits our health. Dr. Cott cites the example of Japanese soldiers found hiding in the jungles of Guam and the Philippines, 30 years after World War II had ended. They were in better health, physically, than were their countrymen in Japan. Dr. Cott also notes that British citizens enjoyed better health during the period of food rationing in World War II than during the period when food was plentiful. 

So, what role does fasting play, or should it play in your life?  Lord, help us to use Your gift of food wisely and as a way to serve You more effectively.

“Do not make a show of your religious acts.” (Mt 6)  Imagine that you boarded a time machine and flew backward into history to the time of Jesus. Imagine that you asked the first five Jews you met this question: “What are three religious acts you routinely perform?” You would probably be surprised to learn that each person would give the same answer, saying, “Almsgiving [works of mercy], prayer, and fasting.”  These are the same three religious acts that Jesus mentions in today’s gospel. Speaking of almsgiving, Jesus says, “When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father Who sees in secret will repay you.” Speaking of praying, Jesus says, “Pray to your Father in secret. And your Father Who sees in secret will repay you.” Speaking of fasting, Jesus says, “[Hide the fact that you are fasting.] And your Father Who sees what is hidden will repay you.”

   This brings us to the season of Lent, which we begin today. Why does the Church use this reading to launch our observance of Lent? 

   The answer is simple. Lent is a season when we try to recall and join Him in a special way as He went out into the desert to be tempted by and to come out victorious over Satan. We also join Him in the suffering that Jesus endured for our sins and to do penance for the sins that caused His suffering and to prepare to renew our baptism promises, when we or our parents and godparents promised to reject Satan and to live for God and His Church. In keeping with this purpose, today’s gospel invites us to consider doing three things this Lent to show our sorrow for our sins, and to renew our baptism. First, it invites us to consider giving something extra to the poor. This explains the practice in some homes of putting a Lenten bowl in the center of the dinner table. During Lent the family cuts back on its meal budgets and, after each meal, puts into the bowl what they saved on that meal. At the end of Lent they vote to determine to what charity they will give the money. Second, the gospel invites us to consider being more prayerful during Lent. This explains the practice among some people of attending Mass daily, or at least one extra day a week, during Lent. Third, the gospel invites us to consider fasting during Lent. This explains the practice of some families of not eating between meals during Lent, or at least on the Fridays of Lent. 

   The important thing in all this is not what we do, but why we do it. We do it, as Jesus says, not to be seen or to impress one another, but as penance for our sins and to make up for the suffering our sins caused Jesus, as well as to heal our selfishness and instead to live for God and His Church.

   The saddest of all sad things would be to come to the end of Lent without having done one concrete thing to express our sorrow for our sins and to prepare for the celebration of Easter, when we will renew our baptismal promises.

What does the word “Lent” mean?  If you look it up in the Oxford Dictionary, you will discover that the word has to do with an old word for “spring”. The Church hopes that for each one of us, the 40-plus days of Lent will produce a springtime of new life, love, joy and strength for body and soul.  And to encourage us toward this goal the Church asks us to do three things: to pray, fast and do works of mercy.  Why these three?  Because they are the weapons to arm us against our three chief enemies—the world, the flesh and the devil (or, to put it another way, the enemies of over-attachment/addiction to security, pleasure and power). 

   Here is what a great saint, St. Peter Chrysologus (“golden word”) says about this topic: “There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other.

   Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others you open God’s ear to yourself. 

   When you fast, see the fasting of others. If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.

   Let this be the pattern for all men when they practice mercy: show mercy to others in the same way, with the same generosity, with the same promptness, as you want others to show mercy to you.

   Therefore, let prayer, mercy and fasting be one single plea to God on our behalf, one speech in our defense, a threefold united prayer in our favor.

   Let us use fasting to make up for what we have lost by despising others. Let us offer our souls in sacrifice by means of fasting. There is nothing more pleasing that we can offer to God, as the psalmist said in prophecy: A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; God does not despise a bruised and humbled heart.

   Offer your soul to God, make Him an oblation of your fasting, so that your soul may be a pure offering, a holy sacrifice, a living victim, remaining your own and at the same time made over to God. Whoever fails to give this to God will not be excused, for if you are to give Him yourself you are never without the means of giving.

   To make these acceptable, mercy must be added. Fasting bears no fruit unless it is watered by mercy. Fasting dries up when mercy dries up. Mercy is to fasting as rain is to the earth. However much you may cultivate your heart, clear the soil of your nature, root out vices, sow virtues, if you do not release the springs of mercy, your fasting will bear no fruit.

   When you fast, if your mercy is thin your harvest will be thin; when you fast, what you pour out in mercy overflows into your barn. Therefore, do not lose by saving, but gather in by scattering. Give to the poor, and you give to yourself. You will not be allowed to keep what you have refused to give to others.” –Roman breviary, volume 2, pp. 231-232

So, since God has loved us so much as to give us His only Son as a sacrifice for our sins, how will we respond? What kind of prayer, fasting and works of mercy will we do this Lent-springtime to deepen our friendship with God?