It has been 40-some days since I have posted. If you're still around, welcome, and I hope you had a fruitful Lenten season.
Over the past forty days, as Catholics, we have prayed, fasted, and gave alms. Hopefully we have focused our prayer lives, denied our bodily needs in order to mortify the flesh, and acted in charity towards our neighbor.
But Lent always reminds me of our good intentions coupled with our human weakness, like the disciples falling asleep overcome by the flesh at Jesus' hour of need in Gethsemane, or Peter's bravado-turned-shame in denying Christ three times when he said he would go to his death for him.
I ran across an incisive adage by St. Moses the Black:
"You fast, but Satan does not eat. You labor fervently, but Satan never sleeps. The only dimension with which you can outperform Satan is by acquiring humility, for Satan has no humility."
This Lent was actually a fairly fruitful one for me. I lost 12 pounds in fasting (a pleasant and much needed byproduct), and we were able to increase our giving. I could have set aside more time for prayer and spiritual reading, but overall it was a time of recollection and stillness, which was part of my reason for pausing my writing during that time. I'm not sure if it worked or not, but I think I needed a break anyway.
Part of the benefits and necessity of denial and mortification is that when it is time to feast, we can truly appreciate what God has given us in food, drink, and company. It's part of the reason I like going camping periodically--a hot shower and a Domino's pizza never tasted so good when you get off the trail! And I fully plan to enjoy my long awaited Wawa latte after Mass to the fullest extent!
Dostoevsky in Notes from the Underground said that if you gave people everything they wanted..they had nothing to eat but cake, and nothing to do but sit in warm pools and busy themselves with the continuation of the species...the first thing they would do after a week or so would go half insane and smash everything up just so that something they didn't expect would happen so they would have something interesting to do.
It is not appropriate to fast when the Bridegroom is present, and now He is truly present in our midst, risen from the grave. We live in the joy of the Resurrection, but the resurrection has meaning because of the horror of the crucifixion and the painful uncertainty of whether that is the end of the story. As Christians, we are people of hope because we know by faith that the story does not end at Calvary.
In the midst of war, political uncertainty, and the rising costs of necessary goods, Christ gives us the example of a man perfectly at peace in all things, asleep on a pillow during a tempest. This can be a difficult example to follow when fear and anxiety grips us. But the message is clear: "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (Jn 16:33)
One thing pausing writing during this period has taught me is that I'm not that important. We can get wrapped up in our own cosmos, thinking we are very important and that what we say and get wrapped up in has great importance. But as St. Thomas the Angelic Doctor, in his wisdom noted, “I can write no more. All that I have written seems like straw.” The world goes on without you. The dead are forgotten over time and their legacies fade.
But Christ remains. Christ endures. It is not faith, hope, and charity that have had their day, but Death, which has been conquered once and for all. The captives have been set free. Poor sinners like myself, who were ensnared in the miry pit, now have hope that they can rise above their past darkness and enslavement.
If you had a lousy Lent, let the reminder of your human weakness make you cling to Christ all the more and lead you to humility, which is the crown of all virtues. If you had a great Lent, enjoy the fruits of your mortification, but always remember to "take heed, lest you fall." (1 Cor 10:12). And if you are reading and are not Catholic or Christian, may you be filled with a holy curiosity and hopefully observe the curious actions of Christians worldwide who live in the joy of the Resurrection through Christ, who is our hope.
Christus resurrexit
Vere resurrexit!
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