THE LABORS OF LENT
“Be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” -1 Cor. 15:58
Ready or not, Lent is coming. In just a few days’ time the “Alleluia” will be laid to rest for 40 days and a period of spiritual rigor and focus will begin. Lent is a season of three tried-and-true works: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. If there is real work for us to be about in this sacred time, there is also an assurance that our efforts need not be in vain. All our Lenten labors are meant to direct us to a deeper appreciation and conformity to the saving work of Christ’s Passion and Cross.
Besides Holy Mass on Ash Wednesday (though not a Holy Day of Obligation, one of the best attended weekdays of the entire Church calendar) it is also a day to refrain from eating meat (as throughout the Fridays of Lent in acknowledgement of the piercing of Christ’s flesh on the Cross) and a day to fast (in imitation of Christ’s forty day fast in the desert). There is the weekly retracing of the fourteen Stations of the Cross and the shift in various liturgical practices (including the omitting of the Gloria and Alleluia and the singing of various chants and hymns set apart for the Lenten Season including the beloved 'Gorzkie Żale’ or Bitter Lamentations so beloved by our Polish community). Lent is also a time of fellowship in the Faith through offerings like Wednesday Soup Suppers and Forty Hours. Lent is a time to live differently because of what Christ has done for us, without presumption or fear, but instead with sorrow for our sins and confident hope that we are being redeemed.
If it is to bear fruit, there must be effort and intentionality behind our Lenten practices. What we do (the various additions of practices we take on) as well as what we let go of (the things we give up) collectively allow us to cling to Christ Crucified. Humbly removing the beam from our eye is hard work but it is well worth the effort: we will be able to see!
May our Lenten course not be in vain (see Phil. 2:16).
-Fr. Howe, Pastor