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THE INTERIOR SPIRIT OF THE LENTEN PROGRAM
02-14-2013, 12:17 PM
THE INTERIOR SPIRIT OF THE LENTEN PROGRAM
13 February, 2013, Ash Wednesday
THE INTERIOR SPIRIT OF THE LENTEN PROGRAM
SCRIPTURE READINGS: JOEL 2:12-18; PS 51:3-4, 5-6a, 12-13, 14, 17; 2 COR 5:20-6:2; MT 6:1-6, 16-18

“Now is the acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!” Yes, once again the Church invites us at this time of the year to recollect ourselves in Christ, so that we might live an integrated life. St Paul’s exhortation to reconciliation is an invitation to be true to ourselves. To be true to ourselves of course necessitates that we are reconciled with God.

And in order that we might live a more integrated life, the Church offers us a Lenten program. This program, consisting of alms-giving, prayer and fasting, is spelt out in today’s gospel text. Yet, one would be far away from the mind of the Church and the mind of Christ if we were to be more preoccupied with the Lenten program per se, rather than the Spirit behind the program. By simply performing all the Lenten works is no guarantee that we will live a more integrated life, nor a more wholesome life. That is why we must be clear that the focus should not be on the Lenten activities that we are invited to participate in but rather on the conversion of our interior spirit.

Indeed, this is the real meaning behind the gospel message of Jesus. He wants us to be on guard against a mere performance of religious works. As Joel in the first reading says, “Rend your hearts, not your garments.” What we need to be concerned about is the transformation of our spirit, or more specifically, the transformation of the heart and mind. Consequently, doing good deeds, praying and fasting are meaningful and useful only to the extent that they lead us to interior conversion, or if they serve as expressions of an interior conversion that has already taken place. Unfortunately, not all good deeds are really performed out of compassion; not all praying lead to liberation; and not all fasting lead to real detachment. On the contrary, we often make use of these exercises, at the expense of real conversion, to soothe a conscience that is not ready for change.

When such a situation happens we lose our integrity. We perform religious works not to express what we feel in the depths of our being, but because it has become the norm of behaviour. So we smile not because we want to smile but because everyone says we must smile. We attend liturgical services, perform all the actions and say all the prayers not because we really believe in them, but because it is the right thing to do. When that happens, we no longer act from our being, but do so out of habit and for show. This is precisely what Jesus was condemning in today’s gospel. People who perform good or religious works so that others might notice them are not one with themselves. That is why they are called hypocrites. Hypocrites are people who do not believe in what they are doing, but they do so because it is the safest way to live, so that society, the institution and the Church can accept them.

The truly integrated person is one who is so true to himself that all his good works, his fasting and his praying are expressions of himself. For this reason he is not and cannot be concerned with what others say or think about him, because he cannot be otherwise. He is one with himself and one with God. He is, so to speak, reconciled within himself and with God. All his actions spring from his being.

Thus we can understand Jesus’ example that true giving is always unconscious. Indeed, not even the left hand knows what the right hand is doing. This is true for praying as well. A person prays simply because he enjoys praying and he is being true to himself. He knows that without prayer he is out of touch with his center and with God. So he simply prays. And when it comes to fasting, he has nothing to boast about. He simply realizes that fasting is good for his spiritual and personal life. He is not sad to fast. In fact, he is very happy to fast and hence is not glum like the hypocrites. This is because fasting is not perceived as a deprivation; rather, he sees it as liberation from his inordinate attachments to things and people.

So, should we observe Lenten works as an expression of our conversion of heart and mind; or should we observe them as a means to lead us to a real conversion of mind and heart? If we adopt the former, then we must be cautious and not deceive ourselves into thinking that we are proper and religious simply because we have done what society and the Church wants us to do. The latter, on the other hand, is no guarantee of salvation because there can be a lack of integration.

In the final analysis, whichever approach we take does not really matter. What ultimately matters is that our doing follows our being; but we must be on guard that our doing flows only from an enlightened being.
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