Lent Begins

Published: February 18, 2018

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

            Lent has begun. Louisianans are famous for our pre-Lenten carnival season, and rightly so: we do know how to party! Yet I wish we could become famous again for the seriousness of our religious practice. That would truly be wonderful! The fact that we love food and sports and Mardi Gras and so many other good things ought to be an advantage in advancing our holy reputation, for the simplicity and sobriety of our Lent would then stand out all the more! Lent is temporary, of course, but the spi­ritual improvement it ought to spark in us should last year-round.

So where should we start? Well, this week’s Gospel of the First Sunday of Lent (Mark 1:12-15), starts with a simple description of Jesus being tempted by the devil. All of us are tempted to do wrong; it’s part of being human. St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), the foun­der of the Jes­u­its, stressed that all of us, during a daily, personal examination of con­science, should among other things notice what the strongest temp­tations in our lives have been. This is time well-spent. Temptations aren’t sins, but giving in to a temptation always is a sin, even if it’s something minor. Being aware of temptations makes them easier to resist.

Many things tempt us. And we “give in” to temptation too much. Most sins we commit are sins of selfishness. The urge to gratify ourselves with too much food or drink, with pornography or other improper sexual indulgence, with laziness, lying, gossip or stealing – all of these are, basically, sins of selfishness. Each of us would like to consider our­selves as beholding to no one else, able to do as we please at every moment. This not only disrespects other people, it offends God, for other-oriented Love really is His entire Being, pur­pose and activity. God always exalts and assists others to improve, and never acts solely for Himself. Imitating Him, esp­e­cially in Lent, we should do the same.

Yet did you notice in this weekend’s short Gospel, in verse 13d, that Jesus had the assistance of the angels in resisting temptation? The six weeks of Lent invariably test our fortitude and perseverance, but fortunately we don’t struggle against evil alone. We are surrounded not only by angelic assistance from heaven, but even in this world by an en­tire community of faith, working together to become even better Christians. The crowds at Lenten daily Masses are the clearest re­min­der that “we are all in this together.” At some point during this season, we’ll all confess our sins. Virtually every Catholic is “doing something extra” or “giving something up,” and finding strength for this in every­one’s commitment. I encourage you to share your Lenten faith and religious practice with others, not to boast but to remind them that we’re here for each other. In this way we’ll draw strength from each other. Ask them to pray for you, and remember to pray for them.

For the unbaptized, Lent is a time of immediate preparation for join­ing themselves to Christ. For those of us who are already baptized, it’s a season to renew faith and rediscover Christ. We all seek to con­form our lives to be more like Jesus, and so we strive to over­come temp­tation, as He did. It’s never too late to start seeking after holiness: as St. Paul famously put it in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation!”

                                                Sincerely yours in the Lord,

                                                Fr. Paul

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