Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: March 11, 2018
How is your Lent coming along? We’re halfway through it, and it’s at this point that our initial enthusiasm for “extra” effort and penance usually begins to weaken. Many – dare I say, most? – of us need a bit of encouragement to hold firm to our promises to God. This is true especially when our Lenten practices are inconvenient or expensive, for about now we’re probably “feeling the pinch,” time-wise and money-wise.
In part that’s why the Church offers us a bit of beauty on the Fourth Sunday of Lent. It’s known as Laetare Sunday, for “laetare” (which literally means “rejoice” or “make glad”) is the first word of the traditional Entrance Song of the day, taken from Isaiah 66:10-11: Lætare Jerusalem: et conventum facite omnes qui diligitis eam: gaudete cum lætitia, qui in tristitia fuistis… (“Be glad, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Rejoice with gladness, all who were in mourning…”).
Laetare Sunday stands out because it’s the only day when the Church’s liturgical norms permit flowers as decoration in Lent. And of course it’s one of those rare days when the clergy may substitute rose-colored vestments for the more somber penitential purple. (Just as an aside: you can usually tell if a priest or deacon has a sense of humor or not by asserting that he’s wearing “pink.” It’s a statement that should get a laugh as a response, but every so often I’ve heard of far-different, even angry, opposite reactions. I suppose the best lesson is not to psycho-analyze the clergy on this fact alone!!)
But let me get back to being serious. When I mentioned above that our Lenten penances can be “inconvenient or expensive,” were you surprised? Honestly, the best penances are. Often we “give up” something to remind ourselves of Lent, but it really doesn’t impact us in a negative way. In fact, eating fewer desserts is good for us! My standard “public” Lenten penance – that is, the one I talk about! – is giving up coffee, but it honestly doesn’t have any serious consequences: it’s merely a daily reminder to me about Lent.
But each of us should also do something or give something that truly does impact our life. And these are penances that we shouldn’t talk about, just do. This can be as simple as getting up to go to daily Mass or some other spiritual exercise. We not only benefit from the extra prayer during that half-hour (or longer, what with Baton Rouge traffic!), we generally take that time away from relaxation. But in the traditional Lenten spirit of almsgiving, I also highly recommend extra monetary giving to Church and charity in Lent. And of course if simply given from “surplus” money, and not from our substance, our donations may do some good for others but don’t really benefit ourselves spiritually (see Mk 12:1-44). In short, our extra Lenten prayers, fasting and almsgiving should hurt!
Sincerely yours in the Lord,
Fr. Paul
