My Dear Friends,
This Wednesday we begin the season of Lent which I always describe as a “season of opportunity.” It is an opportunity to start anew, to reset our relationship with Christ, to cast off the things that obstruct our path to holiness. We tend to forget that holiness is our calling! We should not settle for anything less in the spiritual life. This Lent our catechumens are in the final days of preparation before being baptized during the Easter Vigil. They will be made anew, reconfigured into the image of Jesus Christ as we once were when we were baptized, and therefore called to be saints. Sanctity of life should always be our goal, and let me offer that up as goal for our community this Lent.
This universal call to holiness is explained beautifully by the Council Fathers in Vatican II in the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium. Here is a good spiritual passage to help you kick off your Lenten journey:
The Lord Jesus, the divine Teacher and Model of all perfection, preached holiness of life to each and everyone of His disciples of every condition. He Himself stands as the author and consummator of this holiness of life: “Be you therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect”. Indeed He sent the Holy Spirit upon all men that He might move them inwardly to love God with their whole heart and their whole soul, with all their mind and all their strength and that they might love each other as Christ loves them. The followers of Christ are called by God, not because of their works, but according to His own purpose and grace. They are justified in the Lord Jesus, because in the baptism of faith they truly become sons of God and sharers in the divine nature. In this way they are really made holy. Then too, by God’s gift, they must hold on to and complete in their lives this holiness they have received. They are warned by the Apostle to live ” as becomes saints”, and to put on “as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience”, and to possess the fruit of the Spirit in holiness. Since truly we all offend in many things (222) we all need God’s mercies continually and we all must daily pray: “Forgive us our debts”(223)
Thus it is evident to everyone, that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity; by this holiness as such a more human manner of living is promoted in this earthly society. In order that the faithful may reach this perfection, they must use their strength accordingly as they have received it, as a gift from Christ. They must follow in His footsteps and conform themselves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things. They must devote themselves with all their being to the glory of God and the service of their neighbor. In this way, the holiness of the People of God will grow into an abundant harvest of good, as is admirably shown by the life of so many saints in Church history.
(Lumen Gentium 40)
The Council Fathers offer us a wonderful roadmap or litmus test, if you will, to help us answer the question: are living authentic Christian lives that lead us to holiness? Lent affords us the time to take up the threefold discipline of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving which helps us grow in holiness. Prayer because it brings us into communion with the divine will of our God. It is only by constant prayer on our knees before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament that we start to even perceive the possibilities of what a life of peace and joy the pursuit of holiness can bring us. In fasting or self-denial, we extract from our lives all that does not belong to God or hinders our relationship with God. Here is where we get into a slippery slope in my estimation because so many of us “give up things” for Lent which is good and noble, but I challenge you to ask yourself this question: “is what I’m giving up helping me draw closer to Christ and putting me on the path to holiness?” May your acts of self-denial have a concrete purpose that allows you to be a more authentic Christian. And finally, almsgiving and charitable works are the third pillar of Lent. This often gets lost in our Lenten practices, but we should devote time to the poor by helping out our homeless ministry or visiting the Missionaries of Charity with them to actually do something for the poor (email homelessministrycoltf@gmail.com for more info). There are so many things that we can do. Years ago, children would collect coins lying around and at the end of Lent give them to Catholic Charities. Something practical would be to make your pledge to the ABCD if you haven’t done so to help the archdiocese care for the poor of South Florida (isupportabcd.org). Almsgiving allows us to look beyond our needs and see the great needs of the poor whom our Lord calls us to care for.
Yes, Lent is indeed a season of opportunity. Ash Wednesday is just a few days away, so let us spend the next three days planning our Lenten journey much like we would plan any trip. I invite you to take with you the Daily Lenten Meditation books written by our Carmelite Sister which can be your daily companion. Read the Scriptures. Come to Daily Mass more often. Spend more time in our Adoration Chapel. Embrace this opportunity that the Lord is giving you to pursue the call to holiness you received at baptism. Have a blessed Lent!
God bless you all,
