Fulfill a Lenten Promise to Yourself

The Agony in the Garden

Ash Wednesday is quickly approaching and like most Catholics you are probably thinking what can I give up for Lent -- smoking, cutting down on your alcohol intake, no desserts, giving up popcorn, no chocolate or candy.  These are all great sacrifices that will help you improve your physical body... but is that what Lent is about?  Believe it or not, you know it isn't... we all have a soul which needs to be purified for the coming redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ.  So what is really the best way to prepare for Easter?

Of course the best way is to improve our spiritual lives.  We can do this by becoming a better person.  Pray more, sin less.  Simple as that.  Okay, so what is the motivation behind this?  The best motivation I can think of is to take away some of the pain that Jesus suffered for me during His Passion.  The big question behind that is how does one do that?  Well I found a way that works for me and, hopefully, will work for you as well.

Think about it this way.  We know that God does not exist in time.  He is beyond that dimension where time does not exist. He exists only in the present.  When Jesus came to earth, it was the first time that God was restrained to the dimensions of time.  Time became a horizontal line for him; he had a beginning and an end on this earth.  But, after his resurrection, he returned to the Father where he just exists...in the present, in the here and now.  What does it mean when he is living outside of time?  The easiest way to think about it is that his timeline is no longer horizontal like ours, where there is a past, present and future.  His timeline can be considered vertical... where everything that he experiences is happening all at once. No past, no future, just the present. Where his Passion is happening right now, this moment, continually.  So, what does that mean to us, who are living in time...?

What it means is that we have the greatest opportunity in a lifetime.  We can change our thoughts, our actions and live a new life, turning towards God and not away from him.  We can virtually erase some of the suffering of Jesus Christ as he is being scourged at the pillar.  We can take away some of the pain as he carries his cross and as he is being nailed to it.  By not sinning, there is less evil that Jesus has to suffer and die for.  Changing our lives really means something!  We can do something positive that has an immediate effect not only on our lives, but it can take away some of the horror of what our sins do to Jesus in his last moments on this earth!  Anyone who has watched Mel Gibson's biblical drama of The Passion of the Christ has wished they could have done something to alleviate that suffering as watching that movie made the reality of evil something all too real to us. 

                     

Jesus being nailed to the cross

Now I don't want you all to go off on a tangent on this idea of horizontal versus vertical time. None of this is based on any scientific fact that I am aware of.  I don't claim to know, nor does anyone know, the reality of living outside of time.  But, by thinking of time in this way, I find that by doing good and sinning less there is an immediate cause and effect to my behavior, which I find to be spiritually motivating.  After all, the alternative is that there is no benefit to become a better person if we have already been saved, and we can just go to confession, be forgiven, and then repeat the whole cycle all over again.  No, there must be a reason for bettering oneself.  And my solution, whether true or not, is to think that my changing will benefit the one person I need to give back to.  Jesus.  Yes, Jesus, who did everything he could to save me, and teach me, and love me.  I need to do something for him.  And even if it is all in my mind, the tangible idea of taking away his suffering by becoming a better person is a viable way to lead me to be better.  I think that you will also find it to be a different approach that will have meaning for you as well.

     

The Enhanced Face of Jesus on the Shroud of Turin

So let us start Lent with a promise to ourselves... to change our bad habits and to create some good habits.  Let us try to do something good and positive for ourselves and for others. Let us try to pray more and meditate more on our spiritual life this Lent.  And I have something to help change your mindset, something you can do without leaving your home, or even your computer. Pray the Stations of the Cross, at least weekly, to help you put your heart and soul really into this time of Lent.  

On the right side of this blog posting there is a list of "Labels", at the bottom of this list you will find the Label, "Stations of the Cross".  Click that label and you will be taken to an earlier posting of mine where you can pray the Stations of the Cross right on your computer.  The pictures posted are ones I took of the beautiful life-size statues  of the Stations of the Cross at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA.  I have included with each picture the appropriate prayers for each station which is a very good meditation on how our sins affect us and Jesus as we walk through his Passion.  Do this often during Lent and I promise you, it will help you fulfill a Lenten promise of a lifetime... to change your life, by realizing how your "insignificant" sins actually matter.  And you will find a way to purify your souls and take away some of the pain that Jesus is suffering, now, for our sins, outside the realm of time.  With this mindset, I promise, that this Lent will be a life-changing experience.

The Enhanced face of Jesus on the Shroud of Turin