Love in Lent

By Fr. Gus Carter

2/25/07

There are a number of stories about individuals selling their souls to the devil. The devil offers something that seems attractive, but once persons accept the offer, they find they have made a deadly deal with evil that will destroy them. Unfortunately, it seems that too many Catholics have unconsciously made bargains with evil. There are many things to do in life that clamor for our attention. Gradually, we can let go of practices that sustain and deepen our faith. We can cease to consider our calling to be Christians an important aspect of who we are called to be. All professional and craft organizations have standards of continuing education that are set to remind members of basic principles and new learning that will help them work better. There are many things that remind us that to do justice to do justice to our Christian calling, we must remain life long learners.

I read recently that we can consider lent as a time of formation. We take up again some practices that will help us deepen our faith and our commitment to Christ. We do penance basically to establish discipline in our lives. We need to get into the habit of daily prayer, the practice of virtue and the deepening our knowledge of Christ and Christian practice. If these are not habitual actions, it takes considerable effort and sacrifice to establish such routines in ourselves.

Vatican II documents have emphasized most clearly how important Sacred Scripture is in Christian living. Part of our Lenten prayer could be to take the Gospels and read them during Lent. An ancient Christian form of prayer about which most you have heard is called "lectio divina," literally divine reading. Slow and thoughtful reading of the Gospels keeps us in touch with Jesus and his message. We consider these the Word of God who wishes to engage us in conversation. We listen to the Lord's words and we respond to what the Lord says to us.

We are invited to a deeper relationship with our God. We are consoled by the Lord's kindness and challenged by Jesus life and words.

Thank God, in our time many Catholics are engaged is mental prayer. Many more have promised themselves that one day they will engage in this deeper style of prayer. St. Teresa of Avila recommended that several times a day we should stop to remember for a few minutes that we are in the presence of God who loves us. This was her understanding of basic mental prayer. The first commandment Jesus gives us is "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind." The spiritual masters of the Church recommend that we pray unceasingly to love God more deeply.

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius are a great resource in helping us pray more deeply. He has several suggestions to help us grow in our love for God. Before each exercise, before each

prayer, we should for a space of a short time recall that God is looking on us with love. During the Exercises in meditations on the life of Jesus, St. Ignatius wants us to remember: "He did all this for me." One of the results of the Exercises Ignatius hoped for was that we would keep in mind "That in all things the Lord labors for me." Our faith tells us that all of creation expresses God's love for us. For example, every green plant is producing oxygen so that we can breathe. Clouds are forming to bring rain that will water the crops that will feed us. We are hardly aware

of all the chemical reactions that are going on in our bodies that are keeping us alive. Our Creator God keeps all these reactions in operation, maintaining our lives. We would do well to keep in mind continually that we are immersed at all times in God's love.

Each Lent the Church encourages us in our duty to strengthen the practice of our faith. Prayer and works of charity keep us in touch with the roots of our faith. Americans in general claim to be very busy. Yet surveys show that the majority of people in our country watch from twenty to forty hours of television each week. Surely, there are some programs we could cut to give us time for our God.