Lent is Drawing Near

While it is true that Ash Wednesday comes late this year on March 5, the Season of Lent is just around the corner. In just two weeks we will be going to Mass and having ashes put on our foreheads in the form of a cross as we hear the words taken from the Book of Genesis, “Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return.”
            
I mention this in order that we might begin now to ready ourselves for this important time in the Church’s liturgical year. We should give some careful thought and discernment as to how we will enter into Lent.
            
First, let’s think about why the Church gives us Lent. It is forty days of earnest preparation for Holy Week and Easter when we enter into the Paschal Mystery of Our Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. Lent is all about turning our hearts to God without reserve. It’s about doing penance for our sins and conquering our passions, so that, renewed by God’s grace given in abundance to us through the Sacraments, we may be made worthy to walk with Christ through the last days of His life to the Cross, and then glory in the victory of His Resurrection. 
            
We also call to mind that Lent originated in the early Church as a time of preparation for the catechumens preparing for Baptism. This reminds us that Baptism is for us death to ourselves and to sin through the Passion and Death of Jesus leading to our being raised up in the Resurrection of Our Savior. 
            
So, how do we prepare? We should follow the admonition of the Church found in the words of Jesus in the sixth chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the Lenten practices that Jesus indicates to prepare our hearts. Now is the time for us to make a plan for our practice of these three directives from the lips of Our Lord. 
First, prayer. The perfect prayer is the Mass. Daily participation in Mass is the greatest preparation to dive deep into Lent. Personal prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, the daily Rosary, Stations of the Cross and prayer from the heart are wonderful practices.
            
Second, fasting. This is about disciplining our body and enlivening our spirit. Abstaining from meat and decreasing our consumption of food enables us to set our hearts on the life of grace and the Kingdom won for us by Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross. Plan carefully what your fast will be like. 
            
Third almsgiving.  The giving of alms to the poor is not an optional practice. We must decide well how we do it. Perhaps it can be done individually and personally, to those we meet or know. W might give to those we meet along the road or those in our communities. Anoth option is to give to worthy causes that provide help for those in need. The important thing is to give alms to the poo in some way. 
            
An essential practice in preparation for Lent and during Lent and, in fact, throughout the year, is going to Confession. The Merciful Jesus, whom we meet in the Sacrament of Penance, forgives our sins and heals us. Jesus reaches out to us and touches our hearts as He destroys our sins in His Precious Blood. We are healed and become strong, renewed, and reconciled in His love.
            
Finally, a wonderful idea for the Season of Lent is to invite the saints to walk with us and to support us with their prayers. Of course, Our Lady of Sorrows is the perfect companion. She walked with her Son throughout his entire life and in a most profound way through His Passion and Death.  Jesus gave her to us from the Cross to be our Mother. She united herself totally to her Son’s suffering and death. As our Mother, she will teach us how to unite ourselves with Him. Praying the Chaplet of Seven Sorrows to Our Lady helps us open our hearts to what she desires to teach us. As  a good and loving Mother, she will accompany us on our journey and support us in our struggles
            
Choosing a saint or blessed as an intercessor and companion during Lent will be an inspiring helper for our journey through this holy season. Learning about his or her life and imitating the virtues of the one we choose will open us up to the communion of saints that is forged in the Passion of Christ. Read any writings that have left us.  Talk to them and ask for their prayers.
            
In the end, we see that Lent is not only about doing practices.  These practices as we have noted above are foundational and come form the very lips of Our Savior.  They lead us into a deep encounter with Jesus, into a deeper union of love with Him, and into greater holiness that is lived out in relationship with others in His Mystical Body the Church.  Our Lenten journey should have an out-of-this- world destination, the kingdom of God – heaven.
            
Lent is just around the corner. Let’s pray right now for inspiration to get ready for it. Don’t wait till the day before Ash Wednesday! Start now!
 
Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh