St. Pascal Baylon Catholic Church

For years I have approached Lent as a hopeful opportunity to go out in the desert with Jesus and spend time in contemplative prayer, and then my actual Lenten experience is one of being busy with activities in the parish and outside the parish. For many years I felt that I had been shorted in my Lenten journey because of this. This morning, Ash Wednesday, God was speaking through the reflections I was reading and meditating with about Lent being a season of action through our doing.

In our Gospel reading, Jesus calls the disciples to be active in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving while not calling attention to themselves. 

“When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you” Mt 6:3

“But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.” Mt 6:6

“But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting” Mt 6:17-18

This is a reminder that our prayer, fasting (especially from behaviors and attitudes), and almsgiving are to be activities we do in the world in a quiet seemingly unnoticed way. It struck me that when we do these quietly we are being the yeast that Jesus says the Kingdom of Heaven is like.

“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.” Mt 13:33

Today during Mass I was struck by a connection between Advent and Lent that was not previously apparent to me. Advent is a beautiful time of contemplative prayer and quiet as we prepare ourselves for the second coming of Jesus. In any healthy spiritual life, we are called to be people of prayer and action in a way that these practices complement and reinforce each other leading us into a deeper prayer life and more active discipleship. Advent is more about “being” while Lent is more about “doing”. We go from the prayerful waiting of Advent to walking with and listening to Jesus for a few weekends in Ordinary time until we are called into action through doing while not drawing attention to ourselves during Lent. 

Bishop Robert Barron in his daily scripture reflection for Ash Wednesday provided us with this recommendation for our Lent to be about doing. 

“my recommendation for this Lent is, in a certain way, to forget about your spiritual life—by which I mean forget about looking inside at how you’re progressing spiritually. Follow the Church’s recommendations and do three things: pray, fast, and give alms. And as you do, pray to draw closer to the Lord as the center of your life and the reason you do everything.”

Most times God is elusive and quiet. This Lent I feel God is saying “yes your Lent will be busy, but if you serve others with prayer and fasting you will have an opportunity to be my yeast in the world. You have an opportunity to help the world experience my Love for them and for you to grow closer to me and follow in the footsteps of my son through doing.” I think The Little Black Book’s Ash Wednesday reflection is a good one to end with.

“But one day I shall die. I can’t foresee the details, but I can foresee the fact. I shall die. And I shall go to God. Does the way I am living my life take that into account? Lent is about more than losing weight.”

Peace, Love, and Blessings

Deacon Richard