A certain non-Catholic lady could not understand why Catholics do not eat meat on Friday. She thought the idea unreasonable. Her gardener was a Catholic and a simple, hard-working old man. One day she asked him what he thought of it. His answer cleared away her misgivings and eventually led her into the Church.
"Ah, Miss Mary," he explained, "Christ lived for me: Christ worked for me; Christ suffered for me; Christ died for me. Is not my doing without meat on Friday a very small return for all that?"
The old gardener had the real spirit of penance, the "why" and "wherefore" of Lent - to do what Christ did, not just because we must, not principally because we are commanded, but - because Christ did so much for us.
Why Lent? Why do we fast and deny ourselves, why do we attend special services, say more prayers and better prayers for forty long days? We do it because Christ did it.
"Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led about the desert by the Spirit for forty days, being tempted all the while by the devil. And in those days he ate nothing; and when they were completed he was hungry." St. Luke, 4:1-2.The same Spirit that led Him into the desert leads us into the land of
self-denial. The same Spirit that called Christ is calling you.
"Yet on the plains of common lifePicture Him in the full bloom of His manhood starting out into that barren, desolate desert. No tree to cast a shade; no spring to quench His thirst; no couch on which to lie; no food - no friends - no comforts - no conveniences; nothing of what the body craves, nothing but burning sand, jagged rocks, and thorny bushes. No sign of life but the howling of wild beasts.
Through all the world of men,
The voice that once said, 'Follow Me'
Speaks to our hearts again."
Into this wilderness went our Master. There He remained for forty days, forty days of the most rigorous fasting, forty days of conversation with His Father, forty days without the simplest comforts of the body.
Because our Savior spent those forty days in penance, we try to do the same. He did it all for us, but He wants us to do our share for Him. He wants us to follow Him, to answer the call of the Spirit. He tells us:
"If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." St. Matthew, 16 :24.For forty days Christ fasted. With Our Lord as our model, Mother Church asks those who can to cut down on food and drink. But, kind Mother that she is, the Church realizes that many of us weak children of Adam cannot keep the strict fast. She grants dispensations.
Are we thereby excused from all fasting? By no means. We still can and must fast - spiritually. What a lovely way to fast! Lovely, indeed, but not so easy. By spiritual fasting I mean fasting from sin. All the year, especially in Lent, must we keep that fast.
Fast with your eyes. Are you in the habit of looking at every type of picture that comes along? Do sexy and suggestive scenes find their way through your eyes into your soul? Are your glances at persons of the opposite sex serious occasions of sin to you? Are you the "must see every movie" type? Think of Christ in the desert, giving up sight of everything pleasant and lawful - for you. For Him - give up the unlawful, and sometimes also the lawful.
Fast with your tongue. Not merely by abstaining from food and drink, but by abstaining from bad language, from suggestive stories and speech, from cursing and swearing, from unkind talk. Tell our Lord, who was silent in the bitter silence of the desert forty days, tell Him that you will choke back the wrong word for His sake.
Fast with your ears. Close them to the kind of talk just mentioned. Open them to the word of God. Open them to the commands of your parents, the advice, the instruction of your teachers, the corrections of your friends. Listen to these pertinent words of St. Francis de Sales: "Believe me," said he, "believe me, the mortification of the senses - of the sight, the hearing, the tongue - is more beneficial than to wear a chain of iron and a hair-shirt."
As we follow our Savior into the desert we often find Him praying, talking to His heavenly Father. The greater part of those forty days Christ spent in prayer. We must pray, too.
The best prayer is Holy Mass; it is the best sacrifice. It unites all the sufferings and teachings of our Lord into a short service. Christ gave up all comfort, and I don't love Him enough to give up a little sleep?
Mass is Calvary - the desert - Gethsemane - the Passion - the Last Supper - the crucifixion - and Easter - re-presented to us again in an unbloody manner.
From the ashes of the blessed palms Mother Church scoops up ashen dust and gently puts it on our heads to open this sacred season, reminding us that we are dust, recalling us to our sacred purpose in life:
"For unto this are you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow His steps."The Magnificent Christ! Who is so great, so powerful, so kingly, so humble, so heroic, so loving? What can keep us from following Him? Nothing. With St. Paul:
"I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans, 8:38-39.__________________
Adapted from Occasional Talks
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (©1949)
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