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With Ash Wednesday, we may find it difficult to engage in something
concrete to offer during the season Lent which prepares us for Easter.
When I was still little, I recall how mom would often psych us up to
think about our Lenten offerings. She would make suggestions like
abstaining from the things she knew we loved: comic books, soft-drinks,
candies, and music.
She suggested that we make a mental note of one or two things we
could offer up till Easter. This meant “giving up” our indulgence of the
things we loved and to offer them up for Jesus and other intentions.
With the passing of years, I learned how to wisely craft my Lenten
sacrifices and somewhat cheat through them. For example, I may have
offered not to read the newspapers’ comic section, but I also asked our
helper to daily clip and collect them for me so I can enjoy all of them
on Easter.
Despite this, mom never failed to remind us of this offering every
year. Even up to now, when my calls coincide with either the seasons of
Advent or Lent, she would half joking and half serious ask, “What’s your
offering, Fran?”
I would simply laugh it off and tell her I had one. But deep inside,
her words now triggered a more important thought: “It isn’t so much what
you offer, but why you choose to give up something for someone!” There
is no way one could his cheat his way around this, especially when that
someone is God.
Recently I chanced upon some helpful list of “things to do or reflect
on for Lent”. For example, there are the Forty Thoughts for Lent. This
combines snippets of the ideas of
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI from his different addresses and reflections about Lent.
Another list offered ten tips drawn from Pope Francis’ Lenten
messages. For example: “Get rid of the lazy addiction to evil.” “Do
something that hurts.” “Don’t remain indifferent.” “Pray: Make our
hearts like Yours”, and so on.
As I read through these forty + ten tips, I figured that they were
very helpful, but perhaps, still too lengthy for some to translate them
into small practical acts in the thick of our daily multiple tasks and
concerns.
Thus, I thought of summarizing these points into four practical S’s.
And these would be: Silence, Sacrifice, Sacraments and Souls.
Silence is a much-needed exercise for today’s hyper-sensation-active
man. A condition of “quiet” is an indispensable ingredient for the other
three S’s. To be precise, it is like a recipient of the others. Without
it, one would engage the rest in a less refined way, and we will not be
able to open himself effectively to the effects of grace in his soul.
Silence is the mirror that allows us to courageously face the truth
about ourselves: that we need God. And this need can only be fed
effectively by sacrifice and the Sacraments.
Thus, silence is best expressed in “quietly” listening to God in
prayer, pondering on what others say rather than imposing our ideas
first, also when we strive to interiorize our trials in prayer instead
of complaining, of comparing ourselves with others or criticizing them.
Sacrifice, on the other hand, reinforces silence. It works to put
into action what we have pondered about in silence. For example, we
avoid activism by making the sacrifice of following our schedule as best
as we can. Or we make the hidden effort to place our preferences always
after the others. It can also be the sincere smile radiating from our
face, when we put into strive to forgive our “enemies” and to have a
real compassion for our oppressed or abandoned neighbors.
Silence and sacrifice together predispose us to better receive the
sacraments, especially those of Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist.
Both sacraments entail silence, so that the eyes of the soul may
perceive what is “invisibly” communicated in these channels of God’s
mercy and love. Sacraments also require sacrifice, which temper our
earthly senses and appetites, and orient them to embrace divine mercy
and the celestial Bread.
Strengthened and nourished by the Sacraments, we are filled with zeal
to seek out souls and invite them to the “marriage feast of the Lamb.”
Pope Francis says that “we can only bear witness to what we ourselves
have experienced.” (Lenten Message, 2015) Thus, our capacity to draw
souls to God will be the result of the overflow of the previous acts of
silence, sacrifice and immersing ourselves in the Sacraments.
Source: http://www.cbcpnews.com/cbcpnews/?p=51533
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