LENT 2023
**
Let no one flatter
himself that he is exempt from fasting & penance **
As we approach the Solemn
and Universal Season of Penance, the Church calls us all, in the Name of the
Redeemer, to do penance and to fast. In all ages since creation, “Do Penance” was the great theme of the
servants of God. Even before the deluge (when all flesh had corrupted), Noah
exhorted mankind to do penance; Moses inculcated the same important duty to the
children of Israel; John the Baptist made the banks of the Jordan and the
deserts of Judea resound with the precept of doing penance; and it was with this
precept that Our Divine Redeemer began His public preaching.
The Church guarantees us
that God will hear those who, with compunction of heart, invoke His mercy. Let
us be mindful, then, that this Holy Season of Lent should help us achieve the
purification of our souls for the worthy celebration of the greatest of all
Christian Festivals – the Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord & Savior Jesus
Christ.
The principal object of
the Lenten Fast is the destruction of sin and the purification of the heart. To
fast on other days may be a remedy, an atonement, and a preventative of sin,
but not to fast in Lent would be a crime, which would deserve the
severest punishment. While diminishing the consumption of temporal foods, may
we even more so abstain from the iniquities of the world and from carnal
desires that bring destruction to the soul. In this manner, the flesh will be
obedient unto the soul and the soul unto grace.
The Church compels us to
atone for our former negligences, to repair the consequences of our past sins,
to crucify our flesh with all its vices and concupiscences, and, in that
mortified and guilty flesh, to fill up those things which are wanting of the
Passion of Christ. Let us, then, rend our hearts and not just our garments in
profound compunction, humbling ourselves before the throne of forgiveness. The
fast the Lord has chosen and which alone will be acceptable to Him is “to loose the bands of wickedness.”
Fasting is the best
guardian of the soul, the secure companion of the body, and the armor and
support of the strong in the struggle for salvation. May we redouble our fervor
and supplications this Lent with holy
retirement, self-examination,
and true compunction in order to
obtain the pardon of the Gracious God.
This is the great and
perfect Fast that will find favor in Heaven, heal all disease, banish all
demons, expel evil thoughts, and create a clean heart. Fasting in the right
spirit of the Church (with deep sorrow for our sins) will make pride cede place
to humility, do away with greed, and inspire in us charity to all instead of
anger, hatred, or revenge towards any. Should this be neglected, God will then
ask us, “Is this the fast which I have
chosen?” Let us then profess a solemn renunciation of sin, avoid its
dangerous occasions, and repair its destructive effects.
It would be a grave mistake to suppose that by the
mere exterior act of fasting alone we fulfill our obligations to Almighty God
or really practice the solemn observance of this holy season. We must remember
that the Jews fasted according to the letter of the Law, yet God reproached
them, through His prophets, because in the day of their fasts their own will
was found.
Let us fast, therefore,
because we have sinned; let us fast, even more, so that we may not sin again;
let us fast so that our petitions may be heard before the throne of mercy. Let
us no longer sleep in the arms of perdition; let us no longer remain in the
deplorable state of sin; let us tear asunder all attachments to sin; let us remove
all criminal habits and detestable vices that are a scandal to religion, a disgrace
to the Church, and a reproach to Christianity.
The great and general
fast of every Christian is to fast from sin, from drunkenness, from thievery,
from cursing, swearing and blaspheming, from pride, covetousness, lust, anger,
gluttony, envy, sloth, slander, and detraction. This fast admits of no
dispensation and is absolutely necessary at all times, in all places, and for
all persons.
The Church, always solicitous
for the salvation of Her children, incessantly exhorts sinners to true
repentance and sincere penance. It was the full conviction of the indispensable
necessity of penance that peopled the deserts with crowds of austere recluses
and religious hermits in the primitive ages of Christianity. Penance has always
been considered the only means to effect a reconciliation with the offended
Deity, the only gate by which to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
May we unite our fasts
and penances with the forty days of fast of Our Blessed Savior, and let us
lament all the sins and offences of our lives in the bitterness of our souls.
Let us confess our sins, and may our confession be simple, humble, plain, true,
faithful, full, entire, and accompanied with an inward grief of the heart, a
hatred of sin, and a firm purpose of amendment, which is the very soul and essence
of repentance.
