The Lenten season has arrived

The Lenten season has arrived. For the next 40 days, Christians around the world will focus their energies on penance, self-sacrifice and spiritual growth. Preparing for Easter Sunday can take on many different forms. However, ultimately it is a time of conversion. In Rome, Pope Benedict XVI called on Christians to strip themselves of sin and superficiality and to turn their lives fully over to Jesus Christ.

On Ash Wednesday the Holy Father made his weekly appearance for the General Audience. Speaking to a crowd of 6,500 in the Paul VI auditorium, the pope encouraged Catholics to observe the season of Lent with a renewed desire to “go against the current.” He pointed out that conversion should represent not just an interior change of heart, but also a transformation in our relationship with the outside world.

 According to Pope Benedict XVI, “Conversion is to go against the current where the current is a lifestyle that is superficial, inconsistent, disillusioned, and which often tramples us, reigns over us and makes us slaves to evil or, in any case, prisoners of mediocre morals.” At the conclusion of the audience the Pope made a special appeal to young people, urging them to “live Lent with a genuine penitential spirit, as a return to the Father, who awaits all with open arms.”

Wednesday evening, the pope led the traditional Ash Wednesday procession to the Church of Santa Sabina, where he celebrated Mass and received ashes. In his homily the pope reflected on the penitential aspect of Lent.

“The first act of justice is to recognize our own wickedness, acknowledge that it is rooted in our heart, in the centre of the human person,” he said. “Fasting, wailing, lamentations and every penitential expression have value in the eyes of God only if they represent hearts that have sincerely repented.”

The pope’s comments about justice resonate with his annual “Message for Lent,” released by the Vatican earlier this month. In that message he rejected the secularization of the concept of justice and urged Christians to view the quest for social justice through the lens of individual spiritual renewal and salvation through Jesus Christ.

The need for a return to confession during the Lenten season was echoed by Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York. In a post on his Facebook page, Dolan reflected on a retreat he recently attended in the village of Ars, France. The village was home to St. John Vianney, patron saint of parish priests, who converted the town and drew tens of thousands of pilgrims to Ars by simply hearing confessions. Dolan, who participated in the retreat with 35 priests from the Archdiocese of New York, wrote: “We priests knelt before that simple wooden confessional a lot last week, preparing for our own confession on retreat, and praying, at my request, for a renewal of the sacrament of penance in our own parishes and archdiocese.”

It seems one initiative is already being launched to further the practice of confession in the Archdiocese of New York. The Cathedral of Saint Patrick Young Adults (CSPYA) group is hosting 24 hours of available confessions – an event which will involve 51 parishes in the greater New York area.

Catholic News Service has an intriguing piece on a communal act of penance that dates back centuries. Seminarians studying at the North American Seminary in Rome are embarking on a daily Lenten pilgrimage to ancient churches of Rome. Fr. James R. DeViese, who helped organize the pilgrimage, told CNS, “It puts us in touch with our own Catholic roots. It’s a communal act of penance and prayer, a way for us to join together as Christians to prepare our souls for the sacred Triduum.”

Lent also enjoys a close association with the right to life movement. On Ash Wednesday 40 Days for Life kicked off in 167 cities around the world. This initiative involves communal prayer, vigil, and fasting to bring an end to abortion. Pedro Guevara-Mann of Salt and Light TV offers an excellent summary of the 40 Days for Life launch in Toronto.

The quest for spiritual growth during the Lenten season should involve confession, Stations of the Cross and Mass. But Catholics can also look for spiritual nourishment online. Father James Farfaglia, a blogging priest from Corpus Christi, Texas, has posted an insightful blog on the significance of Lent. For those seeking video content to buttress their devotional life this season Fr. Thomas Rosica of Salt +Light TV has a series of Lenten reflections that can be viewed online.

The great mystic Thomas a Kempis once wrote, “Nothing, how little so ever it be, if it is suffered for God’s sake, can pass without merit in the sight of God.” An encouraging thought for your 40 days of Lenten observance.

-- David Naglieri