Lent began on Wednesday 5th March for Roman Catholics and with some help of Terry Modica from Good news ministries, Tampa, I will tell you more about this special time.
Many people reading this will have celebrated Pancake Tuesday, in fact Pancake Tuesday is actually Shrove Tuesday in my religion (RC) and the production of pancakes is because traditionally (Old Testament) we had to use up all the flour in our houses, Jewish people still practice this tradition. Having lived in a Jewish community for most of my life and opposite shops, I always found it so interesting to see the busyness of people scurrying about buying cleaning products, sleeves rolled up, doors wide open airing the house and all cleaning products selling sell out as people cleansed their houses from of all forms of grain.
For Catholics, Shrove Tuesday is little about Pancakes; it’s a day of self-examination and confession before the 40 days of Lent. The word "shrove" comes from the Roman Catholic practice of "shriving", which is when someone confesses their sins and receives absolution from a priest. We begin a 40 day period of Prayer Fasting and Almsgiving.
On Ash Wednesday, we receive ashes on our foreheads to remind ourselves of our sinfulness and our need for Jesus and what he did for us on Good Friday to redeem us from sin.
People often talk about ‘giving up’ something you like for the 40 days and 40 nights (you actually get Sundays off although not many people know that), generally it’s something that benefits ourselves long term, like a favourite bar of chocolate or biscuits and cakes, something you have had excess of and could do with cutting down, like alcohol or smoking. Sometimes it’s about the physical, taking more walks, going to the gym, but do these acts bring us any closer to God? The acts we do are intended to acknowledge were we have done wrong ‘our sinfulness’ and for us to aim, in this period of time to ‘do better’, to rectify those actions or thoughts by spending more time in prayer and thinking about those less fortunate than ourselves, as an aim to highlight our good fortune in life, so often taken for granted.
In Joel 2:12-18, God beckons: “Return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.” This scripture and Psalm 51 reassure us that God is merciful toward those who regret their sins so much that they repent. Dealing with our need to change can feel overwhelming and shameful, but if we keep our eyes on God’s mercy, we feel helped, healed, and resurrected
By identifying and working on just one sinful tendency (especially one that’s been difficult to overcome), choosing one selfish behaviour or one fear or one flaw or one unloving habit as our Lenten project, we can successfully give it to Jesus, nail it to his cross, and hear him offer it up to God as he cries out, “Father forgive them ….!” It will die with Jesus, and we’ll be resurrected to a new life, a new level of holiness with Jesus.
To help us on the Lenten journey of purification, Jesus is giving us, in Matthew 6:1-6 and 16-18, a walking staff. It has three parts. The bottom of it is prayer; this is what grounds us. The middle section is fasting; this is what gives strength to the staff. The top section, like a shepherd’s crook, is almsgiving; it bends our heavenward heart back to earth where we minister to the people God has placed in our lives.
ALMSGIVING is a gift we give to God in thanksgiving for his generosity to us. Jesus describes two different rewards: the repayment received by hypocrites and the recompense given to those who are generous because they care. The latter are friends of God.
PRAYER can be motivated by right or wrong attitudes. Do we pray with pious words and appropriate gestures to get approval? Do we turn our attention to God only when we want him to grant us favors? Or is our prayer time truly an intimate exchange of love?
FASTING is worthwhile only if it improves our self-discipline so that we can resist sin and grow in holiness. The practice originated in Jewish history as a personal sacrifice on the Day of Atonement (the annual day for the forgiveness of sins). Today, fasting is recommended by the Catholic Church as a means of acquiring “mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart” (Catechism paragraph 2043). In other words, fasting helps us become holier. (Terry Modica, GNM)
By using this walking staff on our Lenten journey, we arrive at Easter with new holiness. Almsgiving converts our hearts by sacrificing our selfish attachments for the sake of others. Praying converts our hearts by sacrificing our selfish use of time for the love of God. And fasting converts our hearts by sacrificing our selfish pleasures, such as the enjoyment of food, for the strengthening of our spiritual maturity
Not much mention about chocolate eggs is there?
May God go with you,
Elizabeth
Dep Chair FN4M