What is Lent, really?

[nathanael]

Every Christian knows that Lent is a period of forty weekdays from Ash Wednesday to Easter, observed variously by fasting and penance. When Jesus pronounced the words "draw to the depths" - duc in altum (Lk 5, 4), He meant more than an "abundance of fish": He meant the profundity of the Spirit and the abundance of God, which the "desert of Lent" helps to find. Lent, therefore, is a time when "we draw to the depths" in our quest to find God. But, paradoxically - and this is what many overlook - it is also a time when we least find Him. As a matter of fact, for an average person, fasting and penitence is suffering, whereas God is found in blessing and joy. But don't be surprised: not even Jesus found God until Resurrection! Indeed, until His last moment on the Cross, His greatest suffering was because of feeling abandoned, by God, because of not finding God: "My God, My God, Why have You abandoned Me? (Mk 15, 34). Jesus' last forty days were everything but joy, but they were an indispensable preparation for the joy to come! Should our Lent be any different? I do not think, yet ... True, like Jesus, we must search for God intently during each of these forty days. True, like Jesus, we may have to wait till Easter to find Him! But here comes the second paradox: I say "may," because after the Resurrection, our hope has increased immensely by virtue of Jesus Himself becoming our Hope! So now we may not even have to wait for Easter, to experience God!

[jeanne]

Nathaniel,

Part of the 'Good News' is that God is with us always, even if at times he seems far away. As we continue on the spiritual journey that is our life, we should constantly be coming to know Him better, as there is always more to know of Him. Our Lents should be times when we intensify our searching and we will be rewarded, for, as Jesus Himself said, 'he who seeks, finds.'

Jeanne

[nathanael]

I agree with you, Jeanne, and this is what I was saying as well, that after the Resurrection our hope has increased immensely by virtue of Jesus Himself becoming our Hope. There is no doubt that this is the "Good News." The purpose of my post was not to dispute this, but to illuminate the hopes of those who live in extreme darkness, as opposed to those who enjoy the "Kingdom already here"! I have not written for those who live in their own homes, the well-off, the laughing, the well-fed. I wrote for people dying from incurable diseases, the homeless, the imprisoned, the poor in spirit, the weeping, the persecuted! These people need theologians to illuminate for them the way! And I can assure you, it is not enough to parrot to these afflicted beings "Just live the Good News"! Had you experienced as much suffering as I did, and I do not deny that you may have, you will understand what I mean! We have an extra duty to explain Jesus to those who need Him most!

[jeanne]

Nathanael (sorry I misspelled in previous post),

Your point is well taken. I think, however that it is not just theologians who have the responsibility to show those in darkness the way, it is a mandate of all Christians! And let me also say that those who "live in their own homes, the well-off, the laughing and the well-fed" are also in many cases in need of enlightenment. Often these people who 'have it all' see no need for God and prefer to rely on their own devices. These are the ones in darkness. Conversely, those who are suffering, the sick, the homeless, the weeping and the persecuted could very well be living in the light of Christ and therefore are given the strength to go on.
We do know that Christ said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, the reign of God is theirs..." and "blessed are those who weep for they shall be consoled." These are the ones who in their suffering see the great need we have to rely on God.

Jeanne

[nathanael]

We are in agreement, Jeanne! There are different kinds of "darknesses", one afflicting the wealthy, who blinded by Mammon "see no God," and the other the "darkness of faith," stemming of sheer suffering and despair that many poor in spirit undergo in this life. This latter darkness, according to John of the Cross, "is light that unmistakably leads to God" (cf. Ascent of Mount Carmel, bk. II, ch. 3). Both "darknesses" are "darknesses of faith, but they are drastically different: the first is caused by the absence of faith; the second, the domain of the saints, is caused by clinging to faith as if for a dear life! This latter, by the way, is a test of our spiritual strength" (John Paul II, Crossing the threshold of hope, "How Does the Pope Pray, p. 25). Although, at present, "we see indistinctly, like in a mirror" (1 Cor 13, 12), all Christians, particularly theologians and catechists, have a duty to help others understand their faith!

[jeanne]

Nathanael,

Agreed and well said!

[hollister]

Looks as if I am going to have to get used to something new!
Rome - The Vatican is poised to introduce stricter norms on Roman Catholic mass, including halting the taking of communion in the hand and setting a time limit for homilies, an Italian newspaper reported Monday. Turin-based daily La Stampa quoted senior Vatican official, Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don saying the move was necessary to eliminate "extravagancies" that have crept into Mass celebrations.
Provisions include restricting to 10 minutes homilies and sermons and ensuring that they be exclusively based on the Gospel readings, said Ranjith who is Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship.
The practice of allowing the faithful to receive Communion - the bread host which Catholics believe represents the body of Christ - in their hands would also be "urgently reviewed", Ranjith was quoted as saying.
The Vatican wants the host "placed directly into the mouths of the faithful so they don't touch it (with their hands)... because many don't even realize they are receiving Christ and do this with scant concentration and respect," Ranjith said.
The distribution of communion on the hands of those attending mass has been widespread since the so-called Vatican II Council - a series of reforms introduced in the 1960s aimed at making church celebrations more accessible to the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.

The funny thing is that in Poland, I take communion on the tongue - no problem seem natural - here it seems ackward.

[rdywenur]

I think the church needs to concentrate on things much more important than if we touch the host or not. With so many that have left the church they need to concentrate on the how to get them back not drive them away.

[hollister]

on that note, this was just published
"According to Pew, 28% of American adults have left the faith of their childhood for another one. And that does not even include those who switched from one Protestant denomination to another; if it did, the number would jump to 44%. Says Greg Smith, one of the main researchers for the "Landscape" data, churn applies across the board. "There's no group that is simply winning or simply losing," he says. "Nothing is static. Every group is simultaneously winning and losing."
For some groups, their relatively steady number of adherents over the years hides a remarkable amount of coming and going. Simply counting Catholics since 1972, for example, you would get the impression that its population had remained fairly static — at about 25% of adult Americans (the current number is 23.9%). But the Pew report shows that of all those raised Catholic, a third have left the church. (That means that roughly one out of every 10 people in America is a former Catholic, and that ex-Catholics are almost as numerous as the America's second biggest religious group, Southern Baptists.) But Catholicism has made up for the losses by adding converts (2.6% of the population) and, more significantly, enjoying an influx of new immigrants, mostly Hispanic."
complete article at: www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1716987,00.html

[nathanael]

I think that Rdywenur makes a valid point. But valid points, when impracticable, amount to wishful thinking. The Church, lest something catastrophic and dramatic happens (like the imminent end of the world), shall never focus on itself as an institution in need of repair" (except in Synods and Councils, but even then unspecifically and without a vestige of self-criticism)! The history shows that this has always been the case. If you do not believe this, just try to criticize the Church institution to your pastor or to your Catholic professor: you will lose a friend ... or even worse, you will lose your career! Just to give an idea how acute this "culture" is, my access to three distinct doctorates was interfered with by the Church authorities, plus my access to religious life and priesthood, for trying to make the Church better by pointing what was wrong! A few days ago, in the March issue of "Into the Deep," I published an article in Australia ([e-mail]), on editor's condition that "every vestige of Church criticism is removed from the article," ... and this in spite that "Into the Deep" prides itself of being "the only magazine in the world where Catholics can say freely what upsets them in the Church"! A similar zero policy as regards criticism (judging), is enacted in all Catholic publications throughout the world, especially in Poland! Whether on a Catholic campus university, in Catholic publications, or at a parish level, you are allowed to state how much Christians suffer because of a specific conduct or policy, a specific "evil," but God forbid that you connect this evil with the Church institution or policy! This reality, which has been with us for two thousand years, good or bad (it's not for me to judge), makes it impossible that the faithful can ever improve the Church by pointing what is wrong, and what can be made better! It's a cross, believe me, one of the worst crosses outside the Cross of Christ, that a Catholic can suffer - the suffering for the truth, the domain of martyrs!