What’s guiding our Lenten observance?
What ought to guide us in how we participate in the annual Lenten retreat especially considering the great tensions that exists in the Church and in society today? I suggest as Lent begins we read and pray through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17-49). Let’s return to the basics of Christian discipleship by prayerfully reviewing what Jesus taught. Isn’t the purpose of the Lenten 40 days to set aside this time to draw close to Jesus and more faithfully conform our lives to the demands of being his disciple? One size does not fit all. We do this according to the circumstances of our lives, according to our duties and responsibilities, age and abilities. Our responses will be different, but respond we must!
This is clearly what Pope Leo is asking of us (Apostolic Letter – On Love for the Poor):
And the Church, if she wants to be Christ’s Church, must be a Church of the Beatitudes, one that makes room for the little ones and walks poor with the poor, a place where the poor have a privileged place (cf. Jas 2:2-4)… our response to the challenges posed by contemporary migration can be summed up in four verbs: welcome, protect, promote and integrate…solidarity [with suffering people] “also means fighting against the structural causes of poverty and inequality; of the lack of work, land and housing; and of the denial of social and labor rights. It means confronting the destructive effects of the empire of money…
So let’s review the fundamental lessons of discipleship as they are recorded in the Scriptures. Then ask the Holy Spirit to show each of us what is ours to do to be a power for good during these difficult times. Yes, let’s make specific sacrifices that remind us from day to day that we are in the season of Lent – give up chocolate. But let’s connect those sacrifices to a firm determination to be brave in discerning how we are to be a power for good within the circumstances our lives and the tensions present in society and the Church.
We also might spend time in prayer before the cross. Here’s a prayer devotion often prayed at noon (or when it is convenient) on Fridays during ordinary time, every day during Lent and on any day when life is difficult.
DEVOTION BEFORE THE CROSS
L For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, not to condemn the world but to save it. (John 3:16)
All Christ suffered for [us] that [we] should follow in his footsteps. (1 Peter 2:21)
L Though he was in the form of God, [Jesus] did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he humbled himself …becoming obedient to death…death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8)
All Christ suffered for [us] that [we] should follow in his footsteps. (1 Peter 2:21)
L Jesus said, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-26)
All Christ suffered for [us] that [we] should follow in his footsteps. (1 Peter 2:21)
L Let us pray.
All Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures – I wish no more than this, O Lord. Amen. (Prayer of Abandonment, Charles de Foucauld)
