Lenten Liberation: Growing Straight Through Concrete
Root sins, care of the body, practical matters...
Lent approaches and I can’t help but cringe a little, not because I don’t like Lent, but because I’m aware of my track record… so many awkward efforts at holiness and sacrifice, so many terrific failures. My conundrum lies primarily in that I am not steadfast in my pre-Lenten circumstances, and yet here I am preparing to take on more…
All right, Lord… this time I’m going to do such-and-such better, unlike last time when I meant well and… anyway, you know how that turned out. This time… THIS time… I have a list. With little boxes. I want to detach and refine and love you so I’m ready for that. Also, I have printed out PDFs and a program and I bought lots of purple construction paper for the kids. And beans and rocks for the table…
I’m reminded of Matthew 8, when the pharisees argued with Jesus and "He sighed from the depth of his spirit.” I suspect He is sighing at me like this now…
"Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?"
This exasperation expressed by Christ touches me, especially as a mother. How many times have a sighed after my children? And how many times as a daughter have I drawn that sigh from my Lord? Always bargaining. Always trying to find the loophole for total surrender.
He gives me breath for that sigh of relentless love... and it is His Divine aspiration which changes everything. It is Lent. He is sighing. It is time to be moved. But I am afraid of all of this and so I buy lots of purple things and make plans. The reality…
I am weary.
I am grieving.
I am broken.
I am out of time, energy, desire, and resources.
And it occurs to me again that Lent must not be about making idols of our own offerings... but about smashing the chains which bind us and prevent us from entering into our liberation. I find myself once again seeking to build the edifice of sacrifice to the Father even while knowing (somewhere deep down) that my busy Lenten activities are little more than a distraction from the proper work.
Fr. Benedict Groeschel used to talk about the tendency of Christians to feed ourselves on the drama of suffering; to become attached to it and fancy ourselves holy because we sit in darkness clutching our rosaries.
But the goal of Lenten sacrifice is not to collect pats on our pious backs but to smash the idols so that we can replace them with God alone. Giving up stuff is a nod to what should be happening in the movement of soul; that is the breaking chains which prevent us from making our lives a gift of praise.
Lent is about dying. Dying to all the unholy passions and idols which obscure holy vision... and learning to live again. Dying like a seed in the ground which comes alive and accelerates with marvelous strength until it bursts through whatever is keeping it down. I’ve seen plants grow straight through concrete, blacktop, and rock. Lent is all about that bursting… but first the waiting, the growing smaller, and the strengthening by the power of Christ.
Jesus was weary with the Pharisees and disciples. Caught up in concerns about signs and provision, they were missing the point. He is weary with us, no doubt, even as we are weary with our own dullness. And yet...
Lent is here. We are hungering. And it is time to come alive.
"And as I looked... flesh had come upon them....; but there was no breath in them.... 'Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.'” (Ez 37)
LET’S GET PRACTICAL.
Lent should be—like all Christian life—oriented towards unity with Christ. To become alive in Him we have to become aware of our root sins and submit them all to the authority of the good Lord so we can be transformed at Easter (seasonally and eternally). There’s pride and vanity… but one root sin that many of us stumble hard upon during Lent is that of sensuality.
There’s a good explanation of root sins HERE but a simple summary of this one is that we are hamstrung by our sensual appetites such as love of comfort, food, etc. Lent reveals that, in spite of all of our bravado, we are held powerless before a single cookie.
This, by the way, is when I am most indebted to the manufacturers of purple paper. After I eat the cookie, which I promised I would not eat for love of the Lord, my conscience immediately wants to console itself by inflicting Lenten crafts on my children. Anyway…
I’ve collected a few random links which I think might help with the practical aspects of our struggle with weakness. This is a spiritual journey, but let’s not over-spiritualize the reality that we are often physically, mentally and emotionally weak people in the face of our very large appetites for ease and pleasure. These links are not to add to your pile of Lenten to-dos… but to offer help if you hope for permanent change during this and every season in your life.
PROCRASTINATION
This is a very funny TED Talk on the battle most of us have with simply getting the next thing done. Watch it with your kids. Inside the Mind of a Master ProcrastinatorCARE OF THE BODY / FASTING
No, not just deprivation but good stewardship. We do not discipline our appetites because our bodies are evil but because they are to be a holy temple and put in service of love and nothing less. We make sacrifices because we want to be strong, able, and as an act of thanksgiving and praise. We acquire good habits so that we might be able to properly focus on first things. But we get confused and resentful, trying always to find a way out of the prison of ingratitude. Rise up! Now is the time. I’m going to encourage reading my own book here because it really is what I would say here if I had the space. I also recommend Eat, Fast, Feast: Heal Your Body While Feeding Your Soul by Jay W. Richards.BACK TO BASICS
Many of us are really good at prayer. But some of us jumped in the deep end before we learned the basics. Consequently, we might have some misguided ideas about what it means to pray and we spend a lot of time floundering about like beached fish wondering why we are so darn lousy at this. I recommend a slim volume to get back to the heart of the matter and declutter prayer: Prayer for BeginnersCLEAN YOUR EARS
Can we become like Christ if our minds are filled with those things which are opposed to Him? Let’s check our music. We know it stirs the soul… but which way is it stirring? Maybe reorient everything to surrender and gratitude.
DO THE ONE THING IN THE MOMENT
Finally, I appreciate the simplicity and directness of this list from The Catholic Company. We don’t have to move mountains on our own but seek to become sensitive and attentive to the Presence of Christ and our own lack of will or strength in turning our hearts back to Him with fervor. (If you can’t see images in your email, click the button at the top that says “Load remote content”)