A Third Sunday of Lent Thought to Start the Week Off Right
We're entering that "middle" portion of Lent. Those of us who took the trouble to plot some sort of plan for special acts of prayer, penance, and almsgiving have either been at it for a while, or we're realizing it's time to really get with the program. If you're one of the latter, no problem. There's nothing wrong with building your spiritual devotion as Lent progresses. As for those of us who haven't yet focused on a Lenten spiritual discipline, well, hope springs eternal. Fortunately for you, Lent, like a middle distance race (800 - 1500 meters) still has a way to go. Just don't forget that, as opposed to the 5,000 or 10,000 meter race, the finish line will appear soon - so it may be wise now to pick up the pace.
Either way, we'll all need to sustain our spiritual practices during these middle days of Lent. While the need to keep at it that can be challenging for many of us, one way to keep us motivated and on point might be to recall why it's so important that we do. To put it simply, we're sinners. Given that simple fact, as we saw last Sunday, our Lenten discipline will both make reparation for our sins, and help strengthen us to avoid sin.
Of course, this all assumes we accept the fact that we're sinners. These days, that's asking a lot. Sin isn't something we hear about much, even from our priests and bishops. As a result, some Catholics, even if they bother to examine their consciences, can't fathom anything that they would consider a sin. Indeed lately, such thinking has morphed into a belief that the Ten Commandments, rather than being actual commandments to do or not do this or that, have now become an ideal of some sort. As such, we're not expected to actually comply; just try. And if we try - even if we fail miserably - well, there's no sin. That applies especially to commandments we consider particularly difficult to obey. And so, rather than express sorrow for sin, we get to excuse ourselves. Rather than Commandments, they're more or less suggestions. Confession? What's the point? No sin, no need. In fact, when you think about it, why bother with our Lenten observances?
If this sort of purported "logic" makes your head spin, join the club. So given the confusing state of affairs, here's something that might help us stay motivated to persist in our spiritual discipline during Lent. It's from an encyclical by Pope St. John Paul II. It will refresh our understanding of just what it means to say that the Ten Commandments aren't suggestions, but laws which we're expected to obey. Our late and now canonized Pope shows us how our struggle to adhere to the Commandments will serve both as reparation for sin and as a means of strengthening us to grow in holiness.
From Veritatis Splendor 103-104 (emphasis added):
As Saint Andrew of Crete observes, the law itself “was enlivened by grace and made to serve it in a harmonious and fruitful combination. Each element preserved its characteristics without change or confusion. In a divine manner, he turned what could be burdensome and tyrannical into what is easy to bear and a source of freedom”.
Only in the mystery of Christ’s Redemption do we discover the “concrete” possibilities of man. “It would be a very serious error to conclude… that the Church’s teaching is essentially only an “ideal” which must then be adapted, proportioned, graduated to the so-called concrete possibilities of man, according to a “balancing of the goods in question”. But what are the “concrete possibilities of man”? And of which man are we speaking? Of man dominated by lust or of man redeemed by Christ? This is what is at stake: the reality of Christ’s redemption. Christ has redeemed us! This means that he has given us the possibility of realizing the entire truth of our being; he has set our freedom free from the domination of concupiscence. And if redeemed man still sins, this is not due to an imperfection of Christ’s redemptive act, but to man’s will not to avail himself of the grace which flows from that act. God’s command is of course proportioned to man’s capabilities; but to the capabilities of the man to whom the Holy Spirit has been given; of the man who, though he has fallen into sin, can always obtain pardon and enjoy the presence of the Holy Spirit”.
104. In this context, appropriate allowance is made both for God’s mercy towards the sinner who converts and for the understanding of human weakness. Such understanding never means compromising and falsifying the standard of good and evil in order to adapt it to particular circumstances. It is quite human for the sinner to acknowledge his weakness and to ask mercy for his failings; what is unacceptable is the attitude of one who makes his own weakness the criterion of the truth about the good, so that he can feel self-justified, without even the need to have recourse to God and his mercy. An attitude of this sort corrupts the morality of society as a whole, since it encourages doubt about the objectivity of the moral law in general and a rejection of the absoluteness of moral prohibitions regarding specific human acts, and it ends up by confusing all judgments about values.
We persist in our Lenten discipline because we believe the truths of our Catholic Faith, one of which is that the Ten Commandments are just that: commandments, not suggestions and not some unattainable ideal. And so we pray for the grace to: adhere to them at all times; make a good confession, with a firm purpose of amendment, when we fail to do so.
It's simple really. And it's a spiritual discipline that has worked for centuries. Why not strive to strengthen that discipline during this Holy Season of Lent?
Either way, we'll all need to sustain our spiritual practices during these middle days of Lent. While the need to keep at it that can be challenging for many of us, one way to keep us motivated and on point might be to recall why it's so important that we do. To put it simply, we're sinners. Given that simple fact, as we saw last Sunday, our Lenten discipline will both make reparation for our sins, and help strengthen us to avoid sin.
Of course, this all assumes we accept the fact that we're sinners. These days, that's asking a lot. Sin isn't something we hear about much, even from our priests and bishops. As a result, some Catholics, even if they bother to examine their consciences, can't fathom anything that they would consider a sin. Indeed lately, such thinking has morphed into a belief that the Ten Commandments, rather than being actual commandments to do or not do this or that, have now become an ideal of some sort. As such, we're not expected to actually comply; just try. And if we try - even if we fail miserably - well, there's no sin. That applies especially to commandments we consider particularly difficult to obey. And so, rather than express sorrow for sin, we get to excuse ourselves. Rather than Commandments, they're more or less suggestions. Confession? What's the point? No sin, no need. In fact, when you think about it, why bother with our Lenten observances?
If this sort of purported "logic" makes your head spin, join the club. So given the confusing state of affairs, here's something that might help us stay motivated to persist in our spiritual discipline during Lent. It's from an encyclical by Pope St. John Paul II. It will refresh our understanding of just what it means to say that the Ten Commandments aren't suggestions, but laws which we're expected to obey. Our late and now canonized Pope shows us how our struggle to adhere to the Commandments will serve both as reparation for sin and as a means of strengthening us to grow in holiness.
From Veritatis Splendor 103-104 (emphasis added):
As Saint Andrew of Crete observes, the law itself “was enlivened by grace and made to serve it in a harmonious and fruitful combination. Each element preserved its characteristics without change or confusion. In a divine manner, he turned what could be burdensome and tyrannical into what is easy to bear and a source of freedom”.
Only in the mystery of Christ’s Redemption do we discover the “concrete” possibilities of man. “It would be a very serious error to conclude… that the Church’s teaching is essentially only an “ideal” which must then be adapted, proportioned, graduated to the so-called concrete possibilities of man, according to a “balancing of the goods in question”. But what are the “concrete possibilities of man”? And of which man are we speaking? Of man dominated by lust or of man redeemed by Christ? This is what is at stake: the reality of Christ’s redemption. Christ has redeemed us! This means that he has given us the possibility of realizing the entire truth of our being; he has set our freedom free from the domination of concupiscence. And if redeemed man still sins, this is not due to an imperfection of Christ’s redemptive act, but to man’s will not to avail himself of the grace which flows from that act. God’s command is of course proportioned to man’s capabilities; but to the capabilities of the man to whom the Holy Spirit has been given; of the man who, though he has fallen into sin, can always obtain pardon and enjoy the presence of the Holy Spirit”.
104. In this context, appropriate allowance is made both for God’s mercy towards the sinner who converts and for the understanding of human weakness. Such understanding never means compromising and falsifying the standard of good and evil in order to adapt it to particular circumstances. It is quite human for the sinner to acknowledge his weakness and to ask mercy for his failings; what is unacceptable is the attitude of one who makes his own weakness the criterion of the truth about the good, so that he can feel self-justified, without even the need to have recourse to God and his mercy. An attitude of this sort corrupts the morality of society as a whole, since it encourages doubt about the objectivity of the moral law in general and a rejection of the absoluteness of moral prohibitions regarding specific human acts, and it ends up by confusing all judgments about values.
We persist in our Lenten discipline because we believe the truths of our Catholic Faith, one of which is that the Ten Commandments are just that: commandments, not suggestions and not some unattainable ideal. And so we pray for the grace to: adhere to them at all times; make a good confession, with a firm purpose of amendment, when we fail to do so.
It's simple really. And it's a spiritual discipline that has worked for centuries. Why not strive to strengthen that discipline during this Holy Season of Lent?
We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
Because by Thy holy Cross, Thou has redeemed the world.
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