"Call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children..."(Joel 2)
During the holy season of Lent we unite as brothers and sisters in Christ from every time and place, generation with generation, in acts of fasting, prayer and almsgiving. Together we turn from sin to grace. Together we enter into Christ's suffering and death that we may also rise with Him. Lent is a particular time of penance, a particular time of conversion, and a particular time of grace. It reveals to us the beauty of being one united Church, united in suffering and united in our need for conversion. There is need for conversion in every time and every place, and in every generation. We are united in our longing for heaven, and we help one another to get there. We are sharers not only in Christ's, but in one another's sufferings. We "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep"
(Romans 12:15). Lent calls us to reject selfishness in our relationship with God and in our relationship with others. It is a time to deny ourselves and return to the Lord, bringing our brothers and sisters with us. Let us bring the aged, the youth and the children before the Lord, and "rend our hearts, and not our clothing."
Lent is one of the "intense moments of the Church's penitential practice"
(CCC 1438). It calls us to become more sensitive to the role of sin in our lives and its effects within our personal surroundings and our larger society and culture
(Lent and Easter Wisdom from Fulton J. Sheen (Liguori, MO: Liguori Publications, 2004) ix). A major part of conversion, of turning away from sin and back to God includes some form of penance. Without penance we are unlikely to advance in holiness. Time and time again we hear Jesus say in the Gospel, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'"
(Matthew 4:17). Through the holy season of Lent, we immerse ourselves into the death of Christ so that we may also rise with Him. By the grace of our Baptism we are moved everyday to immerse ourselves into this death and resurrection. "You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him."
(cf. Col 2:12) Through the grace of our Baptism, we realize "the great mystery in which man dies to sin, is made a sharer in the new life of the Risen Christ and receives the same Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead
(cf. Rom. 8:11). This free gift must always be rekindled in each one of us, and Lent offers us a path"
(Message of His Holiness Benedict XVI for Lent 2011 [ML], 1).
"When you fail to measure up to your Christian privilege, be not discouraged for discouragement is a form of pride. The reason you are sad is because you looked to yourself and not to God; to your failing, not to his love. You will shake off your faults more readily when you love God than when you criticize yourself.... You have always the right to love him in your heart even though you do not love him in your acts.... Do not fear God for perfect love casts [out] fear. God is biased in your favor.... God is more lenient than you because is perfectly good and, therefore, loves you more. Be bold enough, then, to believe that God is on your side, even when you forget to be on his."
Lent is one of the "intense moments of the Church's penitential practice" (CCC 1438). It calls us to become more sensitive to the role of sin in our lives and its effects within our personal surroundings and our larger society and culture (Lent and Easter Wisdom from Fulton J. Sheen (Liguori, MO: Liguori Publications, 2004) ix). A major part of conversion, of turning away from sin and back to God includes some form of penance. Without penance we are unlikely to advance in holiness. Time and time again we hear Jesus say in the Gospel, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'" (Matthew 4:17). Through the holy season of Lent, we immerse ourselves into the death of Christ so that we may also rise with Him. By the grace of our Baptism we are moved everyday to immerse ourselves into this death and resurrection. "You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him." (cf. Col 2:12) Through the grace of our Baptism, we realize "the great mystery in which man dies to sin, is made a sharer in the new life of the Risen Christ and receives the same Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead (cf. Rom. 8:11). This free gift must always be rekindled in each one of us, and Lent offers us a path" (Message of His Holiness Benedict XVI for Lent 2011 [ML], 1).
