By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Ash Wednesday (Feb. 22) begins the Holy Season of Lent. For those who will be baptized on Holy Saturday, Lent is the time of their final preparation. For the rest of us who have been baptized, Lent is our time to prepare ourselves to renew our baptismal promises – to be what we have become in baptism, children of God.
To seek baptism is to seek to become holy, as Pope St. John Paul II reminded us. To renew our baptismal promises, then, means to recommit ourselves to that seeking for holiness which should be what our life in Christ means for us as Christians, as Catholics. If we seek holiness, the pope reminded us, then “it would be a contradiction for us to settle for a life of mediocrity marked by a minimalist ethic and a superficial religiosity.”
During Lent, we pray more intensely, we fast, we give alms (that is, we share with those who can’t pay us back – namely the poor, the needy, and the handicapped. And one way to give those alms is through the ABCD). By these special Lenten observances, we are to work on resolving “those contradictions” in our life that divert us from the pursuit of holiness.
Any baptized person can call himself or herself a “practicing Catholic.” To say that we are “practicing Catholics” does not mean that we are so perfect. But this present life is our one and only chance to “practice” our faith till we get it right. And practice makes perfect.
Who can say that they should not be “practicing” a whole lot more”? This is why we have a Lenten season.
Recently, while surfing the internet, I came across a review of a book entitled: The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. The author is Rosaria Butterfield – who is now married to a pastor in the Reformed Presbyterian Church. She is an ex-lesbian English academic and a former professor of “queer theory”: an unlikely convert for sure.
I haven’t read her book – but the reviewer writes about how he was struck by her account of how John 7:17 had been a key Scripture in helping her come to faith. In it, Jesus says, “Whoever chooses to do (God’s) will shall know whether my teaching is from God or whether I speak on my own.”
As an English professor, the order of verbs in this verse fascinated her: the “doing” preceded the “knowing.” She found that obedience to God was the key to her knowing God.
Again, “practice makes perfect” – but we don’t always have to understand completely before we practice. However, given our propensity to human pride, we often demand to “know” before we “do.” For example, we don’t understand why the Church is against artificial contraception, or sex outside the bonds of marriage – and so we feel free to disregard her teachings; we don’t understand why the Church insists on sacramental confession for the forgiveness of our sins – and so we “confess” ourselves; we don’t understand the Mass – and so we don’t go.
Of course, as you can imagine, Ms. Butterfield’s decision to become a Christian cost her a lot, both career-wise and friend-wise.
Her challenge? “Christian, what did you have to give up to be who you now are?”
To cite once again the words of St. John Paul II: “If we seek holiness, it would be a contradiction for us to settle for a life of mediocrity marked by a minimalist ethic and a superficial religiosity.”
During this Lent, we are called once again to work on resolving “those contradictions” in our life that divert us from the pursuit of holiness. What do we have to give up to be who we are because of our baptism into Christ? What do we have to give up to be the sons and daughters of God that we are?
