A 1st Sunday of Passiontide Reminder - In Case We Need It

This 1st Sunday of Passiontide brings us a reminder - in case we need it.

We don't see "1st Sunday of Passiontide" in the newfangled calendar. It's simply the 5th Sunday in Lent, a week before Palm Sunday. But traditionally it's been 1st Sunday of Passiontide. And it brought something wonderful to us growing up as children in the time when the liturgy of the ages was our regular practice.

It was/is on this Sunday that the statues in our churches were covered. We began to feel the immediacy of Our Lord's Passion coming. In that way this 1st Sunday of Passiontide reminds us in a manner that's hard to miss - at least those of us whose parishes cover their statues.

We've discussed the subject of covering statues over the years, but it never gets old. It's hard not to wonder why the tradition was jettisoned. Then again, it's hard to fathom why so much of our venerable traditions were jettisoned after Vatican II. After all, the Council itself didn't really demand all the changes we witnessed growing up: high altars abandoned in favor of what looks like a table so the priest could say Mass facing us; removal of altar rails; the whole Mass in English (or other native tongues) vs. Latin; Communion in the hand...and much much more. 

Frankly, this cursory list brings with it a stab of pain. Not nostalgia, mind you; but pain, stabbing pain. And the recent efforts to attack and further suppress the traditional Mass has sharpened the stabbing sensation. Why this attack? 

OK. So some of us have simply taken all this as means to toughen our hides against the continuing onslaught. Some of us have continued to do our best to promote the traditional Mass, where it is permitted to be celebrated.

And, of course, those of us who attend the Novus Ordo Mass can certainly manage to see the coming of Our Lord's Passion despite the "naked" statues in our church. So let's not get carried away. Let's instead look at another reminder on this 1st Sunday of Passiontide. It's this:

Go to confession!

In case too much time has slipped by - even though it's Lent - we've got time on our side. Roughly two weeks, to be exact, to get things in order before Easter arrives. Heck, our Diocese even has a special "Reconciliation" day set aside where extra confession times are offered (usually the Monday of Holy Week).

Whether it's been a week or a year, it's a good practice to get to Confession before Easter. And as a special bonus for those who actually make an effort to get to Confession regularly, some encouraging words from Father Oswald Bennett, C.P.

Father comments on the all-too-familiar phenomenon of our continually having to confess the same old sins over and over again. When will we ever make any progress? Even our Lenten discipline may have fallen short of straightening us out. 

But no need to fret here. It's quite normal. Indeed, the saints themselves had to struggle against faults. The difference between us and them: they continually picked themselves up - over and over and over again.

Let's let Father set us straight here: 

“It is distressing to discover the recurrence of faults, listlessness in prayer, irritation, unkind remarks, and so forth, but we can at least use them to become more humble and definitely strive to overcome at least one fault until the time of our next confession: remembering that it is not so much perfection that God rewards as the striving after perfection. It is to be feared that some small faults will be always with us even to the end, but our regular confession will keep them in check. We should be astonished if we were asked to weed a garden so thoroughly that no more weeds would grow therein; but we know that if we persevere in weeding it at stated intervals the garden will be almost free from them. So it is by the steady, persevering weekly or monthly confession that the garden of the soul is kept in order. Let us make our preparation as earnestly as possible, guarding ourselves from the danger of mere routine; find out our most persistent fault, especially when it brings distress and unhappiness to others; resolve to correct it; express our sincere sorrow not only for that sin, but for all the sins of our past life, and leave the rest in the hand of our Divine Lord.”

Encouraged? Let's hope so.

 

Blessed 1st Sunday of Passiontide!