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Lent is coming.
Last Christmas, for various reasons, I failed to get to grips with my usual programme of prayer and Bible study. It felt like a dry season for me. I carried on with my prayers and my regular confession, but one of the things I had to confess was that my heart was not in any of it. If will alone could have accomplished it, I should have been better, but although there was an assent of the mind, my heart remained closed.
It reminded me of what I know but forget sometimes: that faith is not just a matter of intellectual acceptance, it is about a change of heart, and therefore a matter of the heart. Whenever it is simply the former, I feel something is missing. That’s why for me praying the Rosary is so important – it enables me to reflect in prayer on the episodes of Our Lord’s life and suffering.
That seems to me one of the places where Anglo-Catholic and Catholic Churches do something which I am not sure others do – which is to appeal to all the senses, not just the intellect. The smell of incense alone can help get me into the right mood to receive my Saviour. I can’t help it if that sounds a bit ‘precious’, because I do like to be in the right frame of mind and the right place emotionally.
Before I leave for church I pray and read the Gospel appointed for the day. I put on a nice dress and favourite shoes and hat because I am going to meet my Lord I’d do that if I was going somewhere special in a secular sense, so it is the least I can do when going to be in Christ’s presence. I love decorating the altar, praying before the Blessed Sacrament, and then waiting in quiet contemplation for Mass to begin. I try not to let noisy arrivals distract me, but I do wish they’d be quiet.
So, too, with Lent. I’d already decided that I was going to devote my reading to St. Paul, and after Mr Sales’ comments, I think that will have to be Romans. I shy away from St Paul sometimes, finding him sometimes rather difficult; so I will make the attempt to be good and read him in prayer and asking for help. I may end up asking some of you for help too 🙂
I like to read a devotional text during Lent, and have decided to read Wesley’s Plain Account of Christian Perfection, which I began last year and failed to finish. It will balance my other book, which is a collection of Marian thoughts by the Pope.
It is traditional to give something up. There’d be no point my abandoning alcohol, as I rarely drink, but can I really survive with no chocolate? That it would be a real sacrifice suggests I should try.
I am getting ready for Lent. To those who ask, as some do, why bother? The answer comes during the Easter Liturgies – from Mass of Good Friday through the Feast of the Resurrection, the experience of Lent as lived adds something to the heart’s reception of the Lord.
All Along the Watchtower 
Much to this, dearest friend. Can’t say incense does much for me, well outside my tradition but, the meditation before the service, or prayer, if you will, is critical preparation for me.
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NEO – I have to give certain things, but they are not here, so could you give up Grape-nuts and Oreo cookies for me? And I will give up Kobasa sauages and sverige wine for you. Watch out for power lines.
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Tom, That will work for me and I will gladly do so for you. And you look out for wild men in Gooneybirds.
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I look forward to Ash Wednesdays, because the people come into the dark when they can, we have the service, but people come seeking, late, early, young, old, confused, cold, if or if not, this is a country coming out of confusion and confusion is in the coming, not in the getting. On St Nicolas feast day here was for centuries the Bishop in his vestments, with the children, an Angel and a devil. The Angel gave you a potato if you were good, and devil gave you a bit of coal if you were bad and the Bishop gave you a blessing. Simple but I know a girl who waited for 22 years to receive her joyful visit. The adult remembers the dreams of the child. These people are the children remembering the dreams of the younger child. Ash Wednesday is a dream of coming sorrow and joy just as is the potato and the bit of coal..
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Ash Wednesday the beginning of being “born again.” At time of not just spiritual renewal but of moving forward in faith closer to Christ not for 40 days but forever.
My Lenten exercise is to attend Mass at least twice a week which is a bit of a struggle as the Mass is at seven and the church 25/30 min away. Plus no booze for 40 days…hmmmm. It’s a stretch but my body will feel better anyway.
As they say, I’ll give it a go
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Sounds excellent to me, David. A good example from you.
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David nice to hear from you. I like your no booze, so no wine at mass? You are stronger if you go at seven (am?) where I go at night, but my transport takes an hour, but I do as my priest says and pray for the resident outsiders (they have been here a thousand years but still outsiders) I enjoy ash Wednesday since it so disordered, the people come in the dark into a dark courtyard do not know if it is in the main church or a chapel. The priests are very patient, serving people from all day until 9:30 at night, the people are confused but want.
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The exception is The Blood of Christ, for that nourishes the soul. Here at the Franciscan Renewal Center, known as the Casa de Paz y Bien they use Gallo wine. In England it would be called plonk.
It’s 05:30 here must get ready for 07:30 Mass.
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When you are born again, Christ gives you a new spirit. This new spirit doesnt need recharging. Gods work doesnt wear out and need help. Religion keeps you in bondage, Christ sets you free.
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The new spirit may not, Bosco – but the old body does – at least in my case 🙂
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I am in bondage as Paul was in bondage. Religion reminds in confession that I hurt people by words of anger, or acts that betray God, by betraying the image he has created. Christ does not give me a new character, I must with his grace build it piece by piece, I can reject his grace or I can use it to build, I am free. Christ did not need Mary, He did not need Peter nor the Apostles, nor the crucifixion,nor me, but he shared with us, so we could share with him. The Religious Sister who was being experimented on by a Nazi doctor in the camp, said as she died, “To be a prisoner was my gift”. This was God’s gift to her and her gift to God. I reject your spirit.
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