Back to Work on Easter Tuesday: What's changed?
Happy Easter Tuesday!
Things have changed. The penitential season of Lent has passed. We're now in the glorious Easter Season.
But that's not all that's changed. We've changed. At least we have if we applied ourselves in some serious and sincere way to our Lenten discipline. Lent wasn't just about depriving ourselves by fasting and abstaining from legitimate pleasures. In the end, we want to grow closer to God. That's what the spiritual life is all about: union with God.
And that's why we don't throw all our efforts out the window when Lent ends. The idea now isn't to indulge ourselves after all that penance. To grow closer to God, we've got to distance ourselves from self and all those self-indulgent thoughts and actions that keep us at arms length from Him.
So maybe you're closer to God now. Of course, you may not really notice much - if any - change. That's OK. It's the way things go here on earth. We're not attuned to God's Will and to exactly how our souls in respond to it. Stuff's going on in our interior life that may not manifest itself right away. Besides, you can't expect miracles just because of a measly 40 days of self-denial. Not all of us receive the sort of grace that St. Paul received: Flash! Boom! Instant conversion! It usually doesn't work that way.
For example, if you managed to include some form of fast (eating/drinking less) and abstinence (foregoing one or more legitimate pleasures), you may have gained maybe a touch more of self-mastery. Temptations of the senses may not have disappeared, but you're responding to them better. They're not buffeting you this way and that as they used to.
A simple "for instance": When I first incorporated the mortification of delaying eating my meals during Lent, I started, I think, with 2 minutes. As the years passed, I upped it to the most recent 4 minutes. Why? Well, 2 became an all-year thing. Now, 4 was admittedly bit tough. But I stuck to it (mostly!).
Am I superman now? Nope. In fact, I don't really feel any difference at all. Witness: Now that Lent's passed, I scaled back to 2 minutes. (Yes, you don't just give up mortification altogether when Lent ends.) And now that seems tough at times all over again. So, based on how I react, I don't really feel like I've gained any more self-control.
But note this: What I feel doesn't really matter. In fact, by prayerfully applying my will during Lent, I did delay for 4 minutes. Clearly, God granted me the grace to persist in my efforts. (I know I couldn't do this on my own!) Just because I don't now experience any particular feeling of accomplishment doesn't mean nothing was gained.
In fact, it's better that I don't feel anything here. The temptation to pride isn't worth it. (Hey, look what I did!) I'd rather just acknowledge that God helped me mortify myself in this way, and thank Him for it.
(The point of all that was to try to capture a boots-on-the-ground experience of the change that resulted from one little bit of Lenten discipline. What was that change? It was some combination of self-control and gratitude.)
Now that it's Easter Season and I'm back at work, I suspect I'll get some sense of whether and how much things changed. I'll know as I go through my work day. When it's time to eat lunch, will I recollect myself and delay for that non-Lent 2 minutes? Will I approach my work in a spirit of generosity - a desire to put my all into my work, to do the very best I can, no matter the task at hand? Maybe most important: Will my interactions with my colleagues be peaceful and charitable?
And through it all, will I recollect myself from time to time and thank Our Lord and Savior for all He has done for me - the example He provided during His life on earth, redeeming me from my sins through His suffering and death, the glorious hope of eternal life, which He personally showed to us when He Himself rose from the dead?
By God's grace, work on this Easter Tuesday will bring all of this together in the glorious light of His Resurrection!
Things have changed. The penitential season of Lent has passed. We're now in the glorious Easter Season.
But that's not all that's changed. We've changed. At least we have if we applied ourselves in some serious and sincere way to our Lenten discipline. Lent wasn't just about depriving ourselves by fasting and abstaining from legitimate pleasures. In the end, we want to grow closer to God. That's what the spiritual life is all about: union with God.
And that's why we don't throw all our efforts out the window when Lent ends. The idea now isn't to indulge ourselves after all that penance. To grow closer to God, we've got to distance ourselves from self and all those self-indulgent thoughts and actions that keep us at arms length from Him.
So maybe you're closer to God now. Of course, you may not really notice much - if any - change. That's OK. It's the way things go here on earth. We're not attuned to God's Will and to exactly how our souls in respond to it. Stuff's going on in our interior life that may not manifest itself right away. Besides, you can't expect miracles just because of a measly 40 days of self-denial. Not all of us receive the sort of grace that St. Paul received: Flash! Boom! Instant conversion! It usually doesn't work that way.
For example, if you managed to include some form of fast (eating/drinking less) and abstinence (foregoing one or more legitimate pleasures), you may have gained maybe a touch more of self-mastery. Temptations of the senses may not have disappeared, but you're responding to them better. They're not buffeting you this way and that as they used to.
A simple "for instance": When I first incorporated the mortification of delaying eating my meals during Lent, I started, I think, with 2 minutes. As the years passed, I upped it to the most recent 4 minutes. Why? Well, 2 became an all-year thing. Now, 4 was admittedly bit tough. But I stuck to it (mostly!).
Am I superman now? Nope. In fact, I don't really feel any difference at all. Witness: Now that Lent's passed, I scaled back to 2 minutes. (Yes, you don't just give up mortification altogether when Lent ends.) And now that seems tough at times all over again. So, based on how I react, I don't really feel like I've gained any more self-control.
But note this: What I feel doesn't really matter. In fact, by prayerfully applying my will during Lent, I did delay for 4 minutes. Clearly, God granted me the grace to persist in my efforts. (I know I couldn't do this on my own!) Just because I don't now experience any particular feeling of accomplishment doesn't mean nothing was gained.
In fact, it's better that I don't feel anything here. The temptation to pride isn't worth it. (Hey, look what I did!) I'd rather just acknowledge that God helped me mortify myself in this way, and thank Him for it.
(The point of all that was to try to capture a boots-on-the-ground experience of the change that resulted from one little bit of Lenten discipline. What was that change? It was some combination of self-control and gratitude.)
Now that it's Easter Season and I'm back at work, I suspect I'll get some sense of whether and how much things changed. I'll know as I go through my work day. When it's time to eat lunch, will I recollect myself and delay for that non-Lent 2 minutes? Will I approach my work in a spirit of generosity - a desire to put my all into my work, to do the very best I can, no matter the task at hand? Maybe most important: Will my interactions with my colleagues be peaceful and charitable?
And through it all, will I recollect myself from time to time and thank Our Lord and Savior for all He has done for me - the example He provided during His life on earth, redeeming me from my sins through His suffering and death, the glorious hope of eternal life, which He personally showed to us when He Himself rose from the dead?
By God's grace, work on this Easter Tuesday will bring all of this together in the glorious light of His Resurrection!
Happy Easter!
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