Strip Away Everything at Work But What Really Matters As We Prepare for Lent

Lent begins tomorrow. It's time to strip away everything except what really matters - everything that holds us back from Our Lord. 

Lent will lead us to His Passion and Death - and, of course, ultimately His Resurrection. The mere mention of this, of what He has given to us - Himself, Body, Blood, Soul, Divinity - should be sufficient motivation to at least give this "stripping" our best effort.

And this includes our time at work. Of course, that will likely be challenging. We're typically busy, preoccupied with getting our tasks done well and on time. Then again, isn't that the case at home as well? We've got lots of things that occupy our time and attention. Can we really strip all that away and focus our hearts and minds on Jesus, on His coming Passion and Death? Can we really set aside all that has taken up our time and attention all these years and accompany Him to Calvary? Do we really treasure the Hope He gives us with His Resurrection above everything else that surrounds us?

All of this comes together today, as we prepare for Lent. 

Celebrate? Sure. It's Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Carnivale - whatever we call it in our part of the world. But that's just a temporary attention-grabber. Frankly, it made a lot more sense in the days when we Christians actually took the Three Pillars of Lent seriously: prayer, fasting, alms giving. How many of us do that theses days?

Well, let's be one of those who do, even in the midst of this distracting, secularized, post-Christian world that surrounds us. Let's unite ourselves to all those who submit to the discipline and the penitential season of Lent. 

Just trying here to get us into gear for what comes tomorrow, Ash Wednesday. In that spirit, here's something from Bishop John Hedley. He's writing about Jesus and the Holy Family, about their so-called "Hidden Life." He serves up an example of what we might aspire to, seek to imitate, even emulate for these coming 40 days:

“For the Hidden Life itself consists in that which is the only end, the only act, the only state, for which the soul was created; that is to say, the loving worship of its God. This is essential perfection – the more or less continuous and intense exercise of the act of charity. This it is which sanctifies, and which also leads to success. This act is what occupied the Sacred Heart of Jesus all these years. … Contemplate, one by one, the characteristics of His life at Nazareth. Observe the simplicity of His view – God alone. O my Savior, give me grace to aim at God alone! Hitherto I have aimed at many things – the satisfaction of my vanity, of my flesh, of my ambition, of those about me! Hitherto my best actions have been tainted and spoilt by earthly, human, carnal and degrading motives! All this I now turn away from. Do Thou pierce my heart and penetrate it with the one grand purpose of my creation – the will to live for my God! Then observe His Holy Indifference. The Everlasting Word handles the tools of the workmen, and shapes mean material into humble articles of use! Give me, O light of my life, the grace to take up what is low as heartily as what is dignified, and what is flattering as simply as what is humbling, and to see Thee beneath it all, and Thee alone! Last, His continuous and intense elevation of the Heart. Oh! Foolish and mistaken this heart of mine! I fatigue my brain, my fancy, my tongue, my limbs – and all the time, one thing is really necessary – to worship, to love, to offer up, to accept, to beg forgiveness! My Jesus, give me Thy Spirit! O Jesus of Nazareth, obscure, silent, and suffering, I detest all that is contrary to that Spirit of Thine. I detest unnecessary talk, which empties my spirit! I detest that coveting, that clinging, that having and holding, which binds me down to the earth! I detest the vanity of esteem and success! I long and pray that my life may be hidden with Thee in God!” - Bishop John Hedley, O.S.B. (1837-1915)
 

This is the life for us if we wish to become saints, to grow closer to Jesus during these 40 days. We can at least try our best, even in our workplace. If we strip away everything else, we will live a Lenten life, at least during this most Holy Season.