With the season of Lent, Catholics around the world have entered into a time of prayer, almsgiving, and penance in preparation for Holy Week. There are many and varied sacrifices that the faithful choose to adopt during these days, but which ones are most beneficial for our souls?
Mother Angelica (1923–2016), the foundress of EWTN, explained that the season of Lent is an invitation from the Church to consider the end of our lives and to orient ourselves toward ultimate realities.
“You’re gonna go. We don’t like to think about when you’re going to go. Eventually the person that was in that casket is gonna be a couple of handfuls of mixed bones and ashes,” the nun said in a program broadcast by EWTN in 2000.
Mother Angelica, a pioneer in the world of Catholic communications, shared several tips over the years about Lenten resolutions and how we can grow in faith and prepare ourselves in the best way to accompany the Lord in his passion, death and resurrection.
1. Offer things that will last over time.
Mother Angelica pointed out that Lenten resolutions should be those that last. “I need to give up something that I know is wrong in me,” she explained in the same program in 2000.
Instead of “giving up candy,” she continued, it’s more worthwhile to give up a defect that has a negative impact on us and the people around us.
“Why don’t you give up your temper? That’s what I’m going to do for Lent: I want to give up my temper… and then perhaps these 40 days will get you in a habit, a habit of not losing your temper, a habit of being nice, a habit of being kind. And begin with your family,” she said.
2. Offer each sacrifice with joy.
Lent is a very special time in which
In another program, broadcast in 1999, Mother Angelica said we should offer our sacrifices cheerfully because we want to offer them to please Jesus more.
“And be sure that you are cheerful. I’d rather you eat three eggs and be cheerful than not eat any eggs and be a grouch. Some people get very grouchy when they’re hungry. I mean they’re just not liveable. Go eat something for goodness sake, who wants to live with you?” Mother Angelica joked.
3. Remember that we offer sacrifices because we are sinners.
Mother Angelica explained in her program on March 7, 2000, that the sacrifices and purposes of Lent, in addition to helping us imitate Jesus, should strengthen our will. When we sin, she commented, sometimes it’s a mistake, sometimes it’s deliberate because of “it’s a lack of willpower, you can’t say no to yourself.”
“There’s a twofold advantage to doing penance. Real penances, that’s not giving up candy, for goodness sakes. You’re hard up if that’s all you can give up. If you gave up something that cost you, not money, but cost you something in here [pointing to her heart], then by the end of Lent you’re stronger, you’re stronger to say no to more important things,” she explained.
“The whole thing of Lent is not to give up candy, sweets, cake, cigarettes… There comes a time in your life when you have to say no to something very difficult, when to say yes would be so easy,” Mother Angelica added.
In addition, the EWTN founder said that “Lent is not about doing penance for 40 days but rather a reminder that there is much in me that has not changed one bit.”
4. Mortifications are internal acts.
In another program, this time from 1994, Mother Angelica commented that Lenten sacrifices have to do with the interior of the person, with the movements of his or her soul, “and not about eating or drinking or not eating and not drinking.”
“Give God your whole self this Lent. Just say: ‘Lord, I have done a lot of terrible things in my life. This Lent I’m going to go to confession, I’m gonna live a whole new life.’ Wouldn’t that be great? That’s not hard to do,” she said.
“There are so many things you can do that will enhance your spiritual life just by being loving, compassionate,” Mother Angelica said.
5. Resolve to deepen your faith during Lent.
A early as 1994, Mother Angelica said in a program that there is “much deceit in the world today” and so it was becoming increasingly essential to stop being “gullible” in the face of trends and sects that seek to “corrupt your mind and your heart” and instead to be strengthened through prayer and sacramentals.
For Mother Angelica, one of the best resolutions that Catholics can make during Lent is to go to confession and receive the Eucharist as well as to resume in our daily lives a devotion to the rosary and to sacramentals, such as holy water.
“We need to pray. Go and eat a box of candy, for goodness sake. Why do we always think it’s our stomach that’s wrong? It’s our soul that is wrong, forget your stomach!” the nun repeated.
“Do really nice and pious things for Lent. At no other time have we needed so much prayer and penance. Praying is a penance for many of you, so is giving up your life of sin. It is a penance to act like a Catholic. Defend your faith! That is a good penance,” Mother Angelica said.
source: ACI Africa
