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WHY LENTEN LAWS?
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Dear parishioners,
Hope Lent is going well for you? Last week I challenged you to learn at least one traditional Catholic prayer this Lent. I proposed the Anima Christi (Soul of Christ). The purpose is not just so you memorize the prayer, but so that it adds to your repertoire and helps you form your own words when you pray to God from your heart.
Please, keep working on it throughout Lent.
This week I want to reflect on our attitude to Laws/rules as it pertains to God's commandments and the Church's teaching on Lent.
Many of us are tired of laws, and we recoil at any mention of laws or rules. This might be due to our upbringing or experience growing up. We might have had restrictions placed on our freedoms such that any attempt to suggest what we can or cannot do seems to be too burdensome. This attitude to laws or rules also plays out in our relationship with the Lord or with the Church.
We consider laws as infringement upon our legitimate rights, such that we resist them, if not openly, at least by nonconformity or noncompliance. I acknowledge that certain human laws are draconian. As St. Thomas Aquinas reasons, we are not obligated to follow those. Also, regrettably, many laws are couched in negatives, such as “Do not”… “Thou shall not”… Unfortunately, the negative phrasing of God's commandments blinds us from seeing their positive sides and the benefits we derive from conformity to God’s law. Here is what the psalmist says concerning God's Law:
“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul; the decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the command of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eye…the ordinances of the Lord are true, all of them just” (Psalm 19:8, 9).
Like God’s laws, the Lenten laws of fasting and abstinence are not intended to be understood in the restrictive sense. No one goes to hell because they violated the law to fast or abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday or the Fridays of Lent. The law of fasting and abstinence has its root in the law of love.
We deny ourselves of bodily pleasure that comes from food and meat in order to be mindful of our brothers and sisters who have no food, or who cannot afford meat. We deprive ourselves of something we have a right and entitlement to, in order to be in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in our community, and throughout the world who are unable to access these basics.
We lift our hearts from self-gratification and self-pleasure so that we might be more attuned to the suffering of others and our call to help them. So, the laws of Lent are not “Don’ts” but “Do’s.” We deprive ourselves of comfort, and do acts of charity because this is how we demonstrate our love for God - by loving others.
In conclusion, we need to reframe our attitude to God’s commandments, and the commandments of the Church. A positive outlook would help us see the laws as intended for our good, to help us attain to our fullest potential, rather than to stifle our agency and growth. With the psalmist let us sing, God’s laws are “more precious than gold, than a heap of purest gold; sweeter also than syrup or honey from the comb.”
May Jesus bless you, and may Our Lady protect you!
Fr. Julius