Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay, Wis., former chairman of the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, offers “10 Things to Remember for Lent”:
1. Remember the formula. The Church does a good job capturing certain truths with easy-to-remember lists and formulas: 10 Commandments, 7 sacraments, 3 persons in the Trinity. For Lent, the Church gives us almost a slogan—Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving—as the three things we need to work on during the season.
2. It’s a time of prayer. Lent is essentially an act of prayer spread out over 40 days. As we pray, we go on a journey, one that hopefully brings us closer to Christ and leaves us changed by the encounter with Him.
3. It’s a time to fast. With the fasts of Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, meatless Fridays, and our personal disciplines interspersed, Lent is the only time many Catholics these days actually fast. And maybe that’s why it gets all the attention. “What are you giving up for Lent? Hotdogs? Beer? Jelly beans?” It’s almost a game for some of us, but fasting is actually a form of penance, which helps us turn away from sin and toward Christ.
4. It’s a time to work on discipline. The 40 days of Lent are also a good, set time to work on personal discipline in general. Instead of giving something up, it can be doing something positive. “I’m going to exercise more. I’m going to pray more. I’m going to be nicer to my family, friends and coworkers.”
5. It’s about dying to yourself. The more serious side of Lenten discipline is that it’s about more than self-control – it’s about finding aspects of yourself that are less than Christ-like and letting them die. The suffering and death of Christ are foremost on our minds during Lent, and we join in these mysteries by suffering, dying with Christ and being resurrected in a purified form.
6. Don’t do too much. It’s tempting to make Lent some ambitious period of personal reinvention, but it’s best to keep it simple and focused. There’s a reason the Church works on these mysteries year after year. We spend our entire lives growing closer to God. Don’t try to cram it all in one Lent. That’s a recipe for failure.
7. Lent reminds us of our weakness. Of course, even when we set simple goals for ourselves during Lent, we still have trouble keeping them. When we fast, we realize we’re all just one meal away from hunger. In both cases, Lent shows us our weakness. This can be painful, but recognizing how helpless we are makes us seek God’s help with renewed urgency and sincerity.
8. Be patient with yourself. When we’re confronted with our own weakness during Lent, the temptation is to get angry and frustrated. “What a bad person I am!” But that’s the wrong lesson. God is calling us to be patient and to see ourselves as He does, with unconditional love.
9. Reach out in charity. As we experience weakness and suffering during Lent, we should be renewed in our compassion for those who are hungry, suffering or otherwise in need. The third part of the Lenten formula is almsgiving. It’s about more than throwing a few extra dollars in the collection plate; it’s about reaching out to others and helping them without question as a way of sharing the experience of God’s unconditional love.
10. Learn to love like Christ. Giving of ourselves in the midst of our suffering and self-denial brings us closer to loving like Christ, who suffered and poured Himself out unconditionally on cross for all of us. Lent is a journey through the desert to the foot of the cross on Good Friday, as we seek Him out, ask His help, join in His suffering, and learn to love like Him.
— U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Find more Lenten resources at https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year-and-calendar/lent
Pope Francis celebrates the Eucharist during a visit to St. Joseph Parish in Rome for Gaudete Sunday in Advent, one of two occasions in the year when rose-colored vestments are permitted, the other being Laudete Sunday in Lent. (CNS photo / Paul Haring)The fourth Sunday of Lent is traditionally known as Laetare Sunday. This name is taken from the opening antiphon at Mass, Laetare Jerusalem which means “Rejoice, O Jerusalem.”
Laetare Sunday marks the halfway point through the Lenten season of fasting, penance and almsgiving, and because of this it is a day of joy in anticipation of the close arrival of Easter. This day corresponds with Gaudete Sunday, the halfway point through the season of Advent. On both days, the priest wears rose-colored vestments and the altar is decorated with flowers, traditionally roses.
During both Lent and Advent, the rose color is meant to be a glimpse of the joy that awaits us at Our Lord’s birth and resurrection.
Laetare Sunday signifies a temporary suspension of our voluntary penitential observances. In the early Church, marriages were not allowed to be held during the Lenten season except on this one day.
Laetare Sunday is meant to be a jubilant and joyous day amid the darkness of Lent and coming Passiontide.
Laetare Sunday should remind us to keep focused and remember why we are fasting, doing penance and giving alms – all of it is in anticipation of Easter. It is not for some arbitrary reason that we give things up for these 40 days or that we make special acts of penance and charity, but it is to unite us with and bring us closer to Our Lord.
St. Paul reminds us, “And now I am happy about my sufferings for you, for by means of my physical sufferings I am helping to complete what still remains of Christ’s sufferings on behalf of His body, the Church. And I have been made a servant of the Church by God, who gave me this task to perform for your good. It is the task of fully proclaiming His message, which is the secret He hid through all past ages from all human beings but has now revealed to His people” (Col 1:24-26).
As an Easter people, we are to keep our hearts and minds on Our Lord and to seek Him alone. For it is only in Christ that suffering and death are overcome.
While Lent is a time of darkness, a spiritual desert, we place our hope in the Resurrection.
As St. Peter reminds us, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).
— Spencer K.M. Brown. Catholic Online contributed.