Journey Towards Easter
“Slow obedience is disobedience.” This was a common remark at my house growing up. The point was to say that obedience isn’t the main issue; the issue is where your heart is at. Occasionally, I hear people approach Lent with the mindset that we have to mortify our flesh so that we can earn salvation or because it is something that we just do. Let me clarify: We do not enter into Lent because we need a season in the Church Year to beat ourselves up. We enter into Lent to journey towards Easter. Easter is the proper culmination of Lent. This time of preparation has historically taken on several meanings, depending on whether one is baptized or preparing for baptism. If the latter, Lent is a time of preparation for the Catechumens leading up to their baptism. Historically, if already a Christian, it presented a time for Christians to carry out penance imposed upon them by their bishop, so that they could receive the Eucharist on Easter.
Lent, however, is more than simply curbing our physical passions; it is a reordering of our lives to the fullness for which we were created. Lent helps us order our hearts, our will, and our desires, rightly towards Christ. Whatever you give up or whatever devotion you pick up, make sure it is something that points you to Christ and deepens your relationship with him. But remember, as we enter into Lent, there will be times when you slip up, you eat meat on a Friday, you miss your prayer time, you let your heart grow cold to the poor, your words are no longer seasoned with charity, you lash out in frustration because of how you were treated, or whatever it may be. Whenever this happens, turn again toward Christ. For this is the image of repentance being formed in you. This Lent, find your dependence upon the person and work of Christ, for he has already won your recreation. Allow him to enter the wilderness of your heart. And return to your recreation at your baptism.
In the 1662 BCP, Ash Wednesday began with A Commination service that helped orient our hearts for the Lenten journey. A protion of it reads, “Therefore, brethren, take we heed betime, while the day of salvation lasteth; for the night cometh, when none can work: But let us, while we have the light, believe in the light, and walk as children of the light; that we be not cast into utter darkness, where is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Let us not abuse the goodness of God, who calleth us mercifully to amendment, and of his endless pity promiseth us forgiveness of that which is past, if with a perfect and true heart we return unto him. [...] Although we have sinned, yet have we an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins. For he was wounded for our offences, and smitten for our wickedness. Let us therefore return unto him, who is the merciful receiver of all true penitent sinners; assuring ourselves that he is ready to receive us, and most willing to pardon us, if we come unto him with faithful repentance; if we submit ourselves unto him, and from henceforth walk in his ways; if we will take his easy yoke and light burden upon us, to follow him in lowliness, patience, and charity, and be ordered by the governance of his Holy Spirit; seeking always his glory, and serving him duly in our vocation with thanksgiving.”
Throughout Lent, we draw near to God through prayer and the reading of Sacred Scripture; we extend mercy through almsgiving; and we cultivate discipline through fasting. This season calls us beyond mere abstinence from luxuries to a profound transformation of heart, as we learn to align our lives more fully with Christ's will. In addition to giving up meat on Fridays, if you find yourself giving up other things, like social media, specific foods, alcohol, etc., let them be things that will orient you to Christ (this isn’t a diet plan), and choose to add a devotion this season: come to stations on the cross, be faithful in reading the daily offices, or pray the Litany every Wednesday and Friday. If you need other ideas or you realize what you chose was too heavy or too light, come and talk to me. (Please note: young children, breastfeeding or pregnant women, and those medically unable are exempt from the fast, though not from Lenten devotion).
The traditions of the Church are here to help you, as Archbishop Michael Ramsey once said, "We are apt to think that tradition is inevitably a thing which enslaves and holds in bondage. In truth, tradition can be a gloriously liberating thing for us. It frees us from the dominance of some passing fad or fashion or enthusiasm; it liberates us into a larger realm wherein we are free from the tyranny both of today and yesterday." The traditions of the Church, especially during this time of the Church year, faithfully call us to live out Scripture and scriptural themes and virtues in our own lives, not as a silly dramatization but as an actualization. In his book The Paschal Mystery, Louis Bouyer says that Pasch (the passage or journey to Easter) "is not mere commemoration: it is the cross and the empty tomb rendered actual. But it is no longer the Head who must stretch himself on the cross in order to rise from the tomb: it is his Body, the Church, and of this Body we are members."
I invite you, this Lent, to participate in the journey to Easter in ways that prepare your body and soul, and form you to Christ. Seek to embody the scriptural movement from death to life.
Praying you all have a blessed Lent,
Fr. Aaron