Lent: Time to pray, fast, help others

This week, we join with Christians throughout the world in beginning the sacred season of Lent.

Lent is a time for taking stock of our lives. It is a time to heed well the words spoken when ashes were placed on our forehead: "Repent, and believe the good news."

It is a time to change attitudes and behavior that are not in accord with God's plan of life. It is a time to grow spiritually, especially in fostering a deeper relationship with our brother and friend: Our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Marking Lent

Historically, we in the Catholic community have observed Lent by three spiritual practices -- prayer, fasting and alms-giving -- because they are the things Jesus did throughout His life.

I would note, however, that the three practices designed for deepening our relationship with God and others are common to all the great spiritual traditions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism.

They are time-tested and track-proven methods to turn away from preoccupation with self and self-indulgence, and to lead us to a deeper, richer relationship with God as well as with our brothers and sisters in the human family.

Prayer

Prayer is the first and most important practice of Lent. It is meant to center our minds and hearts on God so that we can come to know, love and serve our Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier more fully and faithfully.

There are many ways to pray, of course: private prayer, family prayer, praying the Liturgy of the Hours, reading and reflecting upon a passage from the Scripture or spiritual book, reciting the Rosary, making the Stations of the Cross, or just taking the time to put ourselves in the presence of God and converse with Him as we would our most trusted friend.

Eucharist

For us as Catholic Christians, however, participation in the Eucharist is the preeminent form of prayer. It is at the Eucharist that the Church comes together as Church. It is at the Eucharist that we join with Christ, our High Priest, in offering His redemptive sacrifice to the Father.

At the Eucharist, we in the Christian family gain fresh insights into who it is we are and what it is we are called to be. At the Eucharist, we are energized to change our wants, our wills, our loves and our desires.

If that ongoing conversion that is at the heart of the Christian life does not take place at the Eucharist, then it will probably not take place at all.

Key phrase

A Jesuit priest, Father John Haughy, has suggested there is a phrase we memorialize at the Eucharist that can help bring about this conversion: "This is my Body, which is for you."

What does that mean? It means that the style or disposition of each person who comes to the Eucharistic table must reflect that of the Lord Jesus, who said, "I am bread; I am bread broken; I am bread broken for others. Do this."

Hence, the Eucharist that does not effect within its participants a real identification with the other members of Christ's Body -- others who are suffering, others who are in need -- is a Eucharist celebrated in accord with our own mindset and not in accord with the mind of Jesus.

Repentance

If we celebrate Eucharist in this radical sense and if we prepare ourselves at Eucharist to become bread broken for others, it will dramatically alter our self-understanding and our relationships with others. It would lead us to change our priorities and to work tirelessly to advance God's kingdom of peace and justice in our day.

Another way we can pray during Lent is by celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation: acknowledging the various ways we offend God by our pride, envy, greed, gluttony, sloth, anger, lust and selfishness...asking forgiveness for these failures...and promising to do our best, with God's grace, to avoid these spiritual pitfalls in the future.

Fasting

Fasting is another staple of the Lenten journey. Indeed, polls reveal that this is what Lent means for most Catholics: giving up something.

Lent is perceived as a season of "don'ts." Many Catholics give up food, alcohol, cigarettes, a favorite TV show, movies and going to the mall; or they avoid cursing, gossiping or other forms of hurtful speech.

Those practices make us suffer somewhat. They make us more conscious of what Jesus endured to accomplish our salvation, and of the fact that continual repentance and conversion of heart are indispensable steps on the path of discipleship.

Helping others

More recently, however, we in the Catholic community have been trying to add more "do's" to this Lenten season of "don'ts." That is why almsgiving is seen as equally important as fasting.

Almsgiving, strictly speaking, is donating money or material goods to those in need. But, in the widest sense, almsgiving also means giving ourselves to others: our time, talent and treasure.

For example, one popular way many in our Diocese involve themselves in almsgiving during the season of Lent is participating in Operation Rice Bowl, a Catholic Relief Services program that raises money to offer relief and development to the poor of Asia, Africa and South America.

If we're going to give up a meal, or cut back on sweets or alcohol, why not give the money saved to the victims of global hunger and poverty, and pray for the people who benefit from our generosity?

Worthy causes

This past year, Catholics in our Diocese contributed more than $1.2 million to Catholic Relief Services to assist the tsunami victims in Southeast Asia.

Another worthy cause for our attention this Lent is the victims of Hurricane Katrina. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Baton Rouge and New Orleans, witnessing firsthand the incredible devastation this natural disaster created. I listened to stories of pain, hurt, fear and loss endured by the evacuees; and I learned the enormous resources, both public and private, that will be required to rebuild this ravaged part of our nation.

Through Catholic Charities in our Diocese, we have forged a partnership with the dioceses of the Gulf Coast to send relief workers on a three-week cycle, as well as financial assistance, to help in the recovery efforts.

Doing more

Most of us cannot devote three weeks to volunteer in the Gulf Coast as relief workers, but we can continue to add to the more than $1.4 million that our Diocese has already contributed to the victims of this unprecedented natural disaster.

Also, we can pray for them and advocate on their behalf. Speaking with the evacuees, I learned that their greatest fear is that they will be forgotten and left behind.

These almsgiving activities help us appreciate more fully the growing gap between the haves and have-nots within our world and society, and the solidarity that can and should exist among the members of the human family.

Ways to help

Financial contributions are not the only way to assist those in need. We can also do so by advocating with our elected officials, letting them know -- through letters, emails, phone calls or personal visits -- of our support for or opposition to particular public policies that impact the poor.

Our almsgiving can be achieved as well through kindness to an elderly neighbor...visiting someone in a hospital or nursing home...mentoring a disadvantaged youngster...volunteering at a local food pantry, soup kitchen or human service agency...or just being more present to our family members and friends.

The season of Lent affords us a balanced, three-fold approach for growing personally, socially and spiritually: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. May we make the most of the golden opportunity for grace that Lent presents, and may the journey of the next 40 days lead us to celebrate the great Easter feast with minds and hearts renewed -- and ever closer to Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

(3/2/06) [[In-content Ad]]