The First Break Fast

We are almost at the halfway point of our Lenten journey…already!
It’s truly flying by, at least that’s the way its going for me! The third Sunday of Lent is a time to do a mini reflection, a pre half time show (that takes place more realistically next week when we celebrate Laetare Sunday), it is a time to take stock and do inventory. How is it going? Am I on top of my disciplines, how’s the fasting, the prayer, the almsgiving? Do I need to do more, do better, change things up? Is it drawing me closer to the Lord, am I benefitting my brothers and sisters, am I a better disciple?

I have a rather long list of do’s and don’ts this year and have been doing rather well ( he said way too proudly), or so I thought. Recently I gave a spirituality day for a group of High School faculty members. I realized that my Lenten disciplines, though many, have been falling short. During my preparation I became transfixed with the idea of fasting. In the Book of Genesis, when God created everything, He claimed that it was good, and when He created His masterpiece, (our first parents) He claimed that it was very good. At that point in salvation history, we lived in complete harmony with the Lord and all was well. We could do whatever we wanted contingent on the first fast. God commanded Adam not to eat from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This was a time of original justice. It is fair to say that the first breakfast seriously altered the course of history and changed original justice into original sin and history became salvation history. Throughout scripture, there have been many fasts since that one, Moses fasted before receiving the tablets, Elijah fasted before meeting The Lord on Mount Horeb and the most famous took place at the beginning of Christ’s public ministry. When the new Adam was driven out to the desert by The Spirit for a period of forty days where he ate nothing…and was hungry…and was tempted. This Lenten season is the predominant form of remembrance of that experience.

Fasting has a place in our modern world and has been embraced by many as a holistic form of therapy, while this is not necessarily a bad thing, Catholics ultimately, practice the fast as a way to embrace the grace that comes from His example in salvation history, when we fast from sinful things we draw closer to Him, we experience a type of kenosis. This emptying out has value only when we are refilled with, and by, by His life giving Spirit. In so being we are able to confer the fruits of our fast onto the whole community. This is central to our Lenten disciplines. We must reattune our senses, so that we conform again to the greatest of all the commandments, the commandment to Love God and our neighbor…and our enemy. Penance is as much about service as it is about sacrifice. The marriage of service and sacrifice, for the glory of god and the salvation of souls, this is the greatest Lenten discipline that we can practice.As we abstain from our dependence on created things, we must recognize our dependence on the Creator. Let us use this time of penance to draw closer to Him, to be of benefit to our brothers and sisters and to prepare well for the resurrection. We yearn to walk with Him again in original justice. We yearn to live with Him, in harmony once more, forever and ever, Amen !

The Need To Detach.

Over the past few weeks we have been preparing for Lent, (by remembering our death), entering Lent, (by looking at the existence of hell) and this week we are continuing our journey by glimpsing at Purgatory.
This very Catholic idea of Purgatory affords us the opportunity to recognize the need for purification before we enter the Kingdom of Heaven and the ability to prepare for such a grace filled opportunity with practices of fasting, penance, almsgiving and indulgences as part of the purgative process.
In a few weeks from now as we progress from Lent into the Triduum and then, the Easter season, we will be able to concentrate more on our Heavenly inheritance but for now it is enough to remember that Heaven is total and perfect union with God. It leaves no room for disordered attachments to created things that are always caused by sin. Purgatory therefore is a continued stage of sanctification, (the process of being made holy). It is a state of final purification that takes place after death and before entrance into heaven and is reserved for those who died in God’s friendship but have not yet been perfectly purified. In a sense this is Gods greatest mercy. He knows that nothing other than light can exist in His perfect Light and so in order to be made ready for that, we are granted a time of being made ready. Once in Purgatory we are guaranteed a place in the Kingdom of heaven, our purgative pain rests solely on the fact that we are not yet fully united with The One we most desire, (God) but the suffering, we will experience is not the same suffering as those who are in hell. It is a more hope, and even joy, filled suffering ! Once in Purgatory we are at God’s mercy and yet are aided throughout the purgative process by the prayers and actions of the Church community, (both the church triumphant and the church militant).
Another reminder of the importance of praying for the dead !
For those of us in the Church militant, our Lenten practices can help us detach from material goods, purifying our own hearts while at the same time, aid the souls in Purgatory. This is accomplished through acts of penance, fasting and almsgiving. Indulgences are another way in which we can help. An indulgence is the remission of the temporal punishment due to sins which have already been confessed and forgiven. A plenary indulgence offers a complete remission and a partial indulgence offers a partial remission. To receive an indulgence we must pray and complete a required act stated by The Church, along with reception of The Eucharist, going to confession and praying for the Popes intentions.
If we are able to complete such practices while offering the sacrifice up for the release of souls, grace abundantly flows in our hearts and we begin to aid the plight of the souls in purgatory. Once released, they become our allies in heaven and in turn offer up their own intercessions for us.
Eternal Rest Grant Unto Them O Lord And Let Perpetual light Shine Upon Them.
May They rest In Peace, Amen !

Hell Bound?

For those of us who are constantly wanting to improve, who feel there is still soooo much more work to do and feel we are earnest in our desires for opportunity and time to change….THIS IS THE SEASON WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR! Ironically the penitent inside is excited at the possibilities before us, sadly the fact that we feel this way suggests (as I mentioned last week) that the anticipation is sometimes greater than the reality. Take your time to grow in The Spirit this Lenten season. Don’t overload with unrealistic goals or disciplines, whatever you choose to give up, to sacrifice or to take on, make sure that it is for the glory of God, and not for vainglory.
In the season of “Memento Mori”, we cannot help but recognize the road ahead. It is undeniably an eternal road, that will ultimately take us down (or up) one of two “directions”. Heaven or Hell? Sometimes are perception of hell is somewhat comical. We make light of it with little devil horns and images of fire and jokingly claim, “my hell will be (insert most annoying thing in your life right now). Despite mention of hell from The Lord in scriptures and from the great mystics, visionaries and holy men and women down the ages, it remains difficult for us to understand the mysterious element of infinitude. What we all seem to agree on is that it provokes an everlasting pain, an agony that is incomparable. It is a “place” that we do not want to live in. Either way, many of us seldom reflect on the reality (or even the existence) of hell, and in turn we seldom reflect on the glory of heaven. This is what memento mori is really about. The phrase can be defined as meaning “Remember your death” and relates to our temporal nature, but it also presents us, as Catholics with the truth about our supernatural inheritance. The Church teaches that hell exists and is not contrary to our image of a loving God. God created man to be in a loving relationship with Him, which necessitates free will. It also teaches that God does not send us to hell. We choose our sin over Him and He respects our choice. Sin is the only thing that separates us from God, so once chosen, our hell is an eternal separation from The One that we did not choose and a full communion with the one that we did choose.
Basically there are four elements to remember in this first week of Lent, that God loves us in such a way that He allows us free will so we might be free to choose without coercion. That Heaven is a promise of eternity with Him and all the angels and the saints. That hell is a state of definitive self exclusion from that communion and is reserved for those who refuse (by their own free will) to turn away from sin and that sin, ultimately is the only thing that separates us from God. That’s why we must turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel.