Lent 2020 is, on the one hand, turning out to be rather unusual. However, on the other hand, it calls all the more strongly for the annual revival of all the “standard” classic Lenten practices.
We wish to share with you five insights from the religious life and monastic traditions which might be helpful in living well these days and weeks of COVID-19, a demanding time of our common history. May this “shared wisdom” be helpful in living well this unusual Lent.
Shared Wisdom #1: Pray Without Ceasing
Prayer constitutes our most fundamental relationship with God. It is the raising of our mind and heart to Him in a posture of speaking and listening.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church 2558 draws on the words of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus who described prayer this way:
“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart;
it is a simple look turned toward heaven,
it is a cry of recognition and of love,
embracing both trial and joy.” Manuscrits autobiographiques, C 25r.
In section 2663-2669 the CCC also offers a beautiful teaching on the most basic of all prayers: the Name of Jesus. The same article goes on the discuss the essential call “Come, Holy Spirit” and the role of communion with the holy Mother of God.
A large portion of the Catechism is dedicated to a detailed teaching on the Lord’s Prayer (CCC 2759 – 2865; see also the general index of themes).
There are also some particular prayers which are appropriate for the season of Lent.
The Stations of the Cross for example, trace the steps of Jesus from Pilate’s judgement to the burial in 14 Stations. The USCCB website offers a series of thematic versions, and the Stations of the Cross of the Great Jubilee by St John Paul II can be found on the Vatican website as a PDF file.
Even if you cannot pray them walking between mounted stations in a church, these reflections can be prayed in front of a crucifix with interspersed genuflections, or in a simple path in your own back garden. If you would like to “join us” online, we live-stream the Stations of the Cross on Fridays of Lent at 3pm (EST) from the Provincial House in Washington, DC. Past recordings of the Stations of the Cross remain on our website, and the text of Saint Alphonsus Ligouri can be accessed online as well should you wish to pray them “with us” at any time.
Also the Juniorate House of Studies is live-streaming the Holy Rosary every evening at 7pm (EST). Find the link for the next scheduled live-stream (or pray with a previous recording) at our SSVMUSA YouTube Channel.
The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary may also be prayed every day of the week during Lent, as well as the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of Mary.
Shared Wisdom #2: Ordering Time
Religious life is marked especially by the fixed hours of prayer and the common life. If your regular schedule has been interrupted by cancellations of school and work, then make a new schedule!
Plan your day in a realistic and balanced way so that you can elevate time to give glory to God this Lent: body and soul, individually as a social being.
Establish realistic prayer times, work times, house-chores, exercise, sleep, mealtimes, and “break times”…and then try to stick to them as much as possible.
Balance telecommuting (or any on-line screen time) with a break to go out-doors (or to sit on a balcony or at least near an open window!).
To to have fixed time to cook or work in the house, a moment to read from the sacred scriptures of that day’s Mass, making a phone call to an elderly family member or neighbor.
It is easy to consecrate each activity to God by taking a moment of prayer between activities, and entrusting them to Him.
Shared Wisdom #3: Intense Community Life is a Means of Sanctification
As a missionary religious family, we take community life very seriously. Three sisters might form a community in a foreign mission where the language is unknown, the work seems fruitless, and the people are hostile to Christianity. In such a setting, the witness of charity lived out in community life is essential for the survival of the missionaries and as a real means of sanctification for the place.
We become holy by fulfilling our duties to others in charity, but also by living the virtues of community life called “the little virtues” by Saint Francis de Sales and practiced by all the saints–especially St Philip Neri (whom St Francis de Sales greatly respected) and St John Bosco (who named his own congregation “the Society of St Francis de Sales” i.e. the Salesians!).
In order to reach the gentleness and humility which make any community or family into a joy, we might hear St Francis de Sales exhort us:
“Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself.”
“44. Cultivate not only a solid love, but a tender, gentle, meek love for those about you; I have learned from experience that infirmities destroy, not our charity, but our meekness towards our neighbor, if we are not strongly on our guard.”
Make an effort to strengthen the spirit of joy among those you live with: recreation time (board games, music, etc.!), shared projects (cooking something special together, spring cleaning), and, of course, time to pray together (the rosary, reading scripture aloud, Morning Prayer/Evening Prayer, “silent time” of prayer / spiritual reading in the same room of the house).
May your “Catholic Quarantine” become a “school of charity”!
Shared Wisdom #4: “Lent comes providentially.”
It is not an accident or a fluke that it is Lent right now in the midst of this global health crisis. God knows what He permits and how to draw good out of all things, even the coronavirus!
In the Roman Lenten Stations prayed locally before Mass we begin with the prayer: “Brethren, Lent comes providentially to reawaken us, to shake us from our spiritual torpor.”
The time of Lent is in God’s providential plans (His “seeing ahead,” pro-videre) in order to call us to conversion. In the course of the year we fall asleep, drowsy in complacency and neglect of virtue. But in that moment of “spiritual torpor” (an inactivity of hazy exhaustion and discontent), God sends the season of Lent as a gift in the practice of the Church.
Even in an unusual Lent when we may not be able to attend Mass, gather for the Stations of the Cross in public, et al., this is the time for repentance and renewal. He calls us out into the desert with him so as to fast and pray—for our own conversion and for the good of the whole world. And obviously, the whole world is in need of prayer and conversion!
These forty days—here and now—are a blessing from God. Don’t let them pass you by in the midst of so much health anxiety and upheaval.
Shared Wisdom #5: God Never Forgets His People
Finally, keep a good perspective of who God is, and how much He loves His people. When apostolates seem to be a failure, or unexpected trials come along, we turn with ever greater confidence to God.
Pray slowly the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father…(that He is)…Who art in Heaven…(yes, indeed)…hallowed be Thy Name…(yes, I give You honor and praise).” St Teresa of Jesus (from Avila) commented that it is better to pray a few words well, than to rush through the whole prayer.
Just these simple words of the Lord’s Prayer bring things back into perspective. They help us to place the globe and all this created world back in His hands—where they were all the time. [Below is one of the songs for the celebration of Saint Joseph — a virtual “fogon” (lit. “campfire”) from around the world!]
May your unusual Lent of 2020 be a fruitful one for a deeper conversion, experience of prayer, and growth in holiness and trust.
Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God. John 6:68-69.
Then let us go up to Jerusalem, and from the Cross to the Resurrection!
Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed, therefore let us keep the feast! 1 Cor 5:7b-8a.
