Quadragesimæ 3 annum

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day....

Macbeth

Vanity of vanities! All is vanity...

Ecclesiastes 1:2

Friend,

If ever there was a more apt time for the Night watch’s salute. “The world goes not well. But the kingdom comes.” In hope, I can use my frustration to 'give you peace of mind. That would be enough.' My routines are all out of whack. Now is when I would go to the adoration chapel. That's why I'm awake now. But that won’t open again until Palm Sunday. No public masses are available in my diocese. All the local schools shut down as well. It seems like a ghost town around here. My friends and family all over tell a similar story.

“Now” is no fun. That’s when I look to the past. Often, it’s usually where I find my reason for hope. The stories of church heroes never disappoint. First, the lives of the saints remind us of these truths: Things could be much worse; and yet we can still strive for holiness. Take St. Andrew Kim Taegon, patron saint of Korea. Their quarantine was of a different sort. The state government targeted and persecuted the church. Doors weren’t merely shut; the church went underground; a familiar place. Yet, the Koreans kept the faith WITHOUT a single priest. It was the lay faithful who in “hope… believed against hope" (Rom 4:18).

This all leads us into the heart of Lent. Sickness for the ancient Jew was a sign of sin. The effect of sin is not individual; it’s communal (cf CCC 1443) It’s not like you didn’t follow the law. For the Judeo-Christian, sin is a breakdown of a relationship. It’s where you turn away from God. From there, sin makes us strangers to each other. It also makes us strangers to ourselves. Fast forward to today. I can’t go to my favorite restaurants. I can’t go to big events. I can’t go to church. It’s like an everyday reminder of sin. My physical reality mirrors a spiritual truth.

But ‘all things are passing away.’ And here’s where Christians can be a light (Mt 5:14). We know that this world is passing away (1 Cor 7:31). We look forward to new heavens and a new earth (2 Pt 3:13). We make our own the words of a modern martyr:

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

This is the cross. This is where the Church invites. This is the goal of Lent. To stir in us an interior penance (cf CCC 1434). Here, also, is where the Spirit of Vatican II goes funny. The catechism has an incredible organization. Both the structure and the prose are beautiful. From start to finish, everything is in logical progress. Here’s what I mean. Lent is the only time I hear talk about indulgences. It’s a totally foreign concept to secular society. Most Catholics couldn’t tell you much about it. We can read that it’s “a remission before God of… sins" (CCC 1471). As if that wasn’t spiritual enough for you. The funny thing is what follows from indulgences. The Council fathers makes a connection between indulgences and the saints. By extension, the Spirit connects the saints and Lent.

What’s up with this? This is what we know: Sin breaks all our relationships. Through interior penance, God heals those relationships. But sin affects us in time also. Indulgences heal those effects of time. This is the key. God heals us with indulgences through the Church. Jesus won our forgiveness of sin on the Cross. He gives that victory to the saints. They share in His life with Him. It’s through them that we get the indulgences. Those heroes help make YOU and ME saints. (CCC 1474 - 77)

So, you think: ‘So what? What does that matter?’ In a word: hope. Positive psychology has begun to confirm Church wisdom. Happiness is something you practice. Research shows happy people reinforce their hopefulness through habit. The Catholic tradition calls this an examine. These psychologists suggest regular triggers as reminders. Whenever you fold laundry you think about what inspires you. Or whenever you open your car door you remember the people you love. This works for the spiritual life, too. The Spirit of Truth shows us that we "cannot pray ‘at all times’ unless we pray at specific times" (CCC 2697). This brings us to my daily commute. (We’ll talk more about prayer that doesn't stop next time.) Before, I mentioned all the schools I drive past. But it’s gift that my route goes around cemeteries also. My habit lately has been to bless the graveyards. The saints allow me to rely on their merits. It’s only just that I pay it forward. The church triumphant lets me bless the church suffering.

How crazy is that kind of faith?

It’s easy to fall into despair, panic, or anxiety.

But my prayer joins the Psalmist’s:

Why are you cast down, my soul; why groan within me? Hope in God; I will praise him yet again, my saving presence and my God.

Ps 43:5

And that is my reason for hope.

jp