As we prepare ourselves for yet another Lent, I have been finding myself looking at cupcakes and ice cream as if it will be the last time we will meet in a while. I’m not sure about you, but Lent is not the time of the year I look forward to the most. In fact, it puts me in a somber and downcast mood. But maybe this year can be different.
Instead of seeing Lent merely as a necessary suffering before the joy of Easter, why not see it as a short cut to heaven.
Here’s what I mean. What are the three pillars of Lent? Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These three are not some arbitrary rules the Church put in place. They are really an invitation to reroute our entire lives toward heaven. And in fact, these three practices, rooted in the evangelical counsels, can actually help us to live the reality of heaven now. To start, let’s take a look at the story of the Rich Young Man in the Gospel of Matthew:
16 Now someone approached him and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” 17 He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 iHe asked him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; 19 honor your father and your mother’; and ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”20 The young man said to him, “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”[1]
In this passage, our Lord makes it clear – we must keep the commandments to gain eternal life. Clear enough. That’s the bear minimum and a non-negotiable. But then He encourages us to go a bit further: “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Contained in this single verse, our Lord shows us that the quickest way to experience the reality of heaven now is through the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, which all of us are called to live, most especially during Lent through the practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
“Go sell what you have and give to the poor” – A Call to Poverty through Almsgiving
Now I’m certainly not negating the importance of having material possessions. We need certain things for survival. For instance, if you are the parent of a baby, I highly recommend hanging on to those diapers. However, the Lord is asking us to become detached from worldly things so that we can be freed of the obstacles which keep us from focusing our minds and hearts on the things of heaven. Going hand in hand with this detachment must be the very act of almsgiving, or charity. In emptying ourselves of the worldly clutter, we quickly recognize that we are mere custodians of the Lord’s possessions. Necessarily, we should use those possessions like the Lord does – for the love of one another.
Perhaps this Lent, take some time to purge yourself of those things which others could use more than you.
“…and you will have treasure in heaven.” – A Call to Chastity through Fasting
Elsewhere in the Gospel (Lk 12:33), Jesus is straight and to the point when He says heavenly treasure does not pass away. And through the counsel of chastity and the practice of fasting, we can begin to live with the wealth of that treasure now. By disciplining our bodies and their unruly desires for pleasure through fasting, we grow in our capacity to love in an ordered way with our bodies. Accordingly, our bodies can become the living temples of heaven which God desires them to be.
So, here’s my suggestion for fasting during Lent – the Heroic Minute. Proposed by St. Josemaria Escriva, the heroic minute is the discipline of getting completely out of bed within the first minute of the alarm going off. It starts the day on a winning note over the flesh, and can definitely keep that momentum going for the rest of the day.
“Then come, Follow Me” – A Call to Obedience through Prayer
This is the most important point. Poverty and chastity (corresponding to almsgiving and fasting) are ultimately aimed at one thing – communion with God and conformity to His will. When we empty ourselves out, love our neighbor, and focus our bodily desires toward heaven, we remove the obstacles to the communion to which Jesus invites us – as well as the Rich Young Man. As a result, our desire for God will increase as our pride and self-centeredness decreases. Naturally, this finds its greatest manifestation in increased prayer.
So, this Lent why not make communion with Jesus the central focus? Try to go to a daily Mass or spend an hour a week in Eucharistic adoration.
“When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions”[2]
Like I said at the beginning, I usually approach Lent with a melancholic outlook – much like the Rich Young Man – because I am too wrapped up in cupcakes, ice-cream, and ultimately my own will. But the Lord does not desire us to be melancholic – he desires our happiness, literally to an infinite degree. He offered the Rich Young Man a short cut – which was rejected, leaving the man sad.
He offers us the same short cut to heavenly happiness.
This Lent, let’s take it.
[1]New American Bible, Revised Edition. (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Mt 19:16–21.
Ibid., Mt 19:22.
A Voice in the Wilderness 