Entering the Desert of Lent

Lent namely a penitential period a time when people come to grips with their limitations their sins their attachments to prepare for real communion with God welcome back to the word on fire show I'm Brandon Vaught the host and I'm joined here in our new setup for the word on fire show by Bishop Robert Baer and Bishop Baron good to see ya hey Brandon good to see you good to hear from you we talked about this in the last episode but we've revamped the setups not only of your YouTube commentaries but also this word on fire show we're still in the same studio space which is a really really small room there at the Mission and Santa Barbara but we've been able to turn it into multiple sets now and we're all just so enthusiastic about the way it looks now what do you think yeah thanks to our donors it's oh it's wonderful you know and we got to just keep going and doing the Lord's work and it's expensive as I say and so we're grateful to those who have helped us with this Bishop you recently visited the Carmelite Sisters of Alejandra out there in your region tell us what that visit was like they're marvelous community about a hundred and forty sisters I think they were founded way back in the in Mexico actually during the Cristero period and their founder us the wonderful mother de lui Sita came up here to the States to flee the persecution back in the 20s and then establish the community in LA and I was at one of the sites now there of their order they take care of the poor and the sick and the aged and they're just a marvelous uplifting life-giving a community to be with so there was a joy I celebrated the mass for the birthday of the founders and then there was a wonderful show they put on for me afterwards in the Carmelite tradition that goes back to the little flower remember she talks about they would put on these plays and so on well they still do that and they were they were kind of teasing me by making Madre and Louie Sita one of the pivotal players and this they used some of the film from our work so they were just a delight let the film an episode 13 of pivotal players a future her in there huh now we're recording this just a couple of days before Lent begins Ash Wednesday is on February 26 this year and so I thought we'd spend this whole episode discussing Lent what it means how we do it what it's looked like throughout the ages so first of all I guess a basic question what's the purpose of Lent these forty days before Easter why does the church give that to us what's it supposed to be about to prepare us for Easter you know Brandon goes way back in really all the great religious traditions you find something like Lent namely a penitential period a time when people come to grips with their limitations their sins their attachments to prepare for real communion with God and that's the purpose of Lent is to get us ready for Easter you know part of it is we can just become blasé I suppose about an event like the resurrection of Jesus we've we've known about it we've we've heard about it we celebrate it every year but are we ready for it that's what lenez so it corresponds a course to Jesus own 40 days in the desert preparing for his public ministry I think for all of us it's just indispensable that on a regular basis we go into the desert a lot of important things happen in the desert and that's the the purpose of one I know for a lot of Catholics maybe the majority of Catholics in the pew when we hear Lent we just think okay giving up chocolate like that's what basically Lent Ming's you know and there's nothing I don't want to bomb own that and say that that's bad it's it's good to give up something that you're maybe attached to but is lent more than that what what more is Lent than just giving up sweets for forty days yeah and that can be one expression of it classically Lent involves three practices prayer fasting and that's where even something like that comes in and thirdly almsgiving so those are the three classical practices something Brandon I like to emphasize is Lent is not so much in here it's a set of things that we do pray during Lent fast during Lent give alms during what three activities three things that we do that I think helps to orient us to this holy season let's talk about each of those three pillars maybe we'll spend a good amount of time on each one so of all prayer prayer I think this is the one most obviously people associate with Lent it tends to be a time when the church in the liturgy and through devotions deepens its intensity of Prayer how do we knew this what do you recommend to Catholics to deepen their prayer during Lent first of all prayer is the raising of the mind in the heart to God the famous definition from John Damascene I love that to raise the mind in the heart to God it means to attend to God to be aware of God to seek communion with God in a conscious way raising up with the mind yes with all of our consciousness and attentiveness our perception our intellectual ability but also to raise up the heart to God so our passions and our feelings and our emotions and the longings of our soul to do that in a very explicit conscious way is to pray so I think you know I this morning I begin every day with a holy hour and I go into my Chapel and I genuflect before the Blessed Sacrament and then I just enter into this hour of Prayer it involves the office and other things the rosary and so on but the basic move is I'm consciously raising my mind and heart to God it's so easy for us to lose track of that so that's what the essence of Prayer is now how do you do it all kinds of practices we can recommend what's the greatest prayer the mass I'd say the Catholics maybe you've drifted away if you stopped going to Mass on Sunday Lent is a great time now to say I am gonna go back to Sunday Mass do you go to Mass on Sunday okay how about daily Mass during Lenna or even I'm gonna go you know twice during the week during Lent that whatever you're doing in regard to the mass raise it a level intensify it maybe enter more deeply into the mass get a study guide or a book or a video or something on the mass so you can more deeply preach I mentioned the rosary it's a very important prayer if you've been away from the Rosary for a long time well find it it's probably in a drawer somewhere in your house or it's gathering dust somewhere find it use it pray it if difficult for you maybe try once a week each week during Lent you're gonna pray the rosary right twice a week I'd recommend a prayed everyday if you can the Jesus Prayer is one that I've always recommended Lord Jesus Christ son of the Living God have mercy on me a sinner that's the whole Jesus Prayer but you can pray it over and again for a minute for five minutes for 10 minutes for an hour let it be a part of the rhythm of your breathing Lord Jesus Christ son of the Living God have mercy on me a sinner try that prayer during Lent devotions the Stations of the Cross to go to your local church and to do that prayerful meditation on the the death of Jesus enter into these devotions maybe you haven't practices you were a kid and you say oh I spent so long well ok Lentz a good time to to enter into those again so those are always you know branded that we can pray I mentioned the Holy Hour now maybe that's that's relatively advanced I can't but you know Fulton sheen one of our great heroes recommended it to every priest when he gave a retreat to lay people when he gave them a retreat his practical advice was every day spend an hour before the Blessed Sacrament maybe you're getting started it's a holy 15 minutes it's a holy half-hour ok start with the hat if you want but spend time in adoration may I say I might have mentioned this now in an earlier show Brenda when I met with the Pope for the odd Lumina visit when the bishops of my region met with him one of the first things he said to us was teacher people adoration teacher people adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and that stayed in my mind so another prayerful practice you could exercise during what all those are ways is there an especially Lenten character of Prayer that maybe is distinct from other liturgical seasons I'm thinking like of the season of Advent which takes the form of expectation and longing you know how long the Lord how long or oakum oh come o Israel how about Lent is there a specific character of Lenten prayer well it's probably penitential in form you know getting in touch with my own weakness asking the Lord for forgiveness asking for help in your struggle against you know your own vices and your own attachments your own sin you know Brandon it's not a morbid thing at all getting in touch with your sinfulness is a great form of Prayer if I before the Lord confess so there's the formal sacrament of reconciliation but just the the confession of sin and the presence of the Lord that's a good prayerful practice and it's not it's not should depress you it's it's in front of the Lord who loves you more than you love yourself and to say help me deal with Lord this issue you know in Ignatius of Loyola but you've got the consciousness examine at the end of the days when you kind of review your day in light of God all the great things happen to you the opportunities the graces but also all the things have blocked you yeah well today I had the opportunity Lord to do this work of charity but I didn't do it today Lord I allowed that person just to bug me and I didn't reach out and forgiveness and love I had this chance which I you know missed good good don't don't feel you know that you're falling into the the sloth of despond I mean you're you're confessing in the presence of the Lord those are all forms of Lenten prayer seems to me so that's the first major pillar of Lent prayer let's look at the second pillar which is fasting now Bishop you know fasting has become all the rage in the world in general in our general culture you know you talk about intermittent fasting people fasting for various health benefits bodybuilding benefits but from a perspective from a spiritual perspective why do we fast what are the spiritual benefits of fasting well attachment detachment right is a great spiritual category we tend to get attached to creative things and we make them godlike in our lives they take on an exaggerated importance when that happens it's good sometimes to actively detach oneself from them so is to find what the soul really wants see the soul can be so caught up in in secondary goods but it even begins to forget what it really wants so if you're so sated all the time by seeking out of sensual pleasure you can forget whether your soul wants something much more than that we're longing ultimately for God only in God is the soul at rest so we all know that every sinner knows it but I think our culture especially that kind of awful sickly feeling when you're sated by a lot of sensual pleasures food or drink or sex as Aquinas put it but your soul is left arid your soul is left unsatisfied well one of the practices is to fast purposely to set aside some of these sensual pleasures so was to allow the deeper hungers to emerge please it has nothing to do with Puritanism or Platonism or dualism it doesn't mean and we hate pleasure you know that's a caricature right I mean maybe some Christian expressions have have fallen into that but that's a that's a caricature Christian's love the world because God made it good we love food and drink and sensual pleasure but they can become so dominant that we forget the deepest longing of the heart and so we fast so as to allow that hunger to emerge something I've always loved from Thomas Merton where he said the the sensual desires can be like little kids I want it I want it I want a little kid that wants something right now and even though you know look that's not good for you you know we're gonna eat in an hour and you ever need a ice-cream cone right now but I wanted I wanted I want it and if we allow our sensual desires to dominate us it's like that we start doing things that aren't good for us so fasting is a wonderful way to rediscover the deepest longing of the heart it's not a Platonism or Puritanism it's a spiritual cleansing if you want to allow the the deepest hunger to to express itself Bishop the minimum that the church asks of Catholics during Lent in terms of fasting is to abstain from meat on all Fridays and then on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday to fast and at least in America the way fasting is defined is one small meal with maybe a couple of snacks you've worked with a lot of people in spiritual direction elsewhere is that minimum usually what you recommend the most people do you recommend they fast more than that and how do you make that determination yeah I've always said to people look at the very least do what the church asked it's not that demanding and I'll say this to Brandon you know in many years now of living through Lent very often it's precisely the Friday abstinence that stays most in my mind or kind of bugs me the most or you know I mean that I'm most aware that it's Lent because you know and I think you and I have this in common I don't like fish and so for me it's a real I don't want to exaggerate like it's a terrible summer but it does get my attention let's put it that way Friday and lent because I can't have made and I can't have fish and so it's like what am I gonna do well that's all good see that's good because it it brings it into my body the fact of Lent it brings it in into my practical planning that I'm aware of Lent so at the very least yeah follow what the church recommends there's some people you know I know there are fish lovers that oh I love fish so they have an extra helping you know I'm Friday it's kind of defeating the purpose you know I often encourage people is there a form of sensual pleasure that's too dominant in your life name that and then try to get some control over it so the church's recommendations about fasting but maybe that you could push a little bit further maybe it is skipping a meal you know once a week I know some people who do really really serious fasting like like bread and water fasting on a Friday during Lent okay as you say we're doing it now for for bodybuilding purposes and and health purposes so you know why not for spiritual purpose - there's something mysterious - Brandon is in there it goes right back to the Bible itself and it comes up through the tradition that something about fasting accomplishes certain spiritual ends and I can't explain that exactly you know but Jesus famous line about well yeah this is this type of demon only comes out through prayer and fasting and I've talked to a number of really spiritually alert people that I've known and they'll say that they'll say oh yeah fasting if you want to accomplish that you you've got a fast now why that works I don't entirely know but there's a lot of spiritual power to it now as you say how about something like for a lot of us today I include myself you know addiction to video not video games but like the video you know the iPhone and the video stop them screens how about a little fasting from screams now I realize the irony I'm saying is I'm appearing at a screen but you know what I mean is it we can get too caught up in that business fast a little bit cut back on purpose limit your time find something in your life that you think I am giving this too much attention and fast from it all right so we've looked at the first two pillars of Lent prayer and fasting let's turn to the third and final one which is alms giving what's the connection between alms giving and the spiritual life I think for a lot of people the connection is obvious when it comes to prayer and fasting those seem to bear obvious spiritual fruit but how does almsgiving help our souls oh gosh in so many ways because if the heart of the spiritual life is Caritas writes love to will the good of the other that's a very concrete way to will the good of the other there are poor people around us all the time find a way during Lent to to give to them to give of yourself and I like the fact that it has to do with money it makes it really concrete because we can get very sort of gassy and abstract about that you know I'm giving of myself ok but when it comes to money I'm gonna give alms I'm really gonna give some material value to the poor that cuts very close to the bone doesn't it it brings it home in a very vivid way so I think it it not just encourages it is charity it is the very heart of the spiritual life see prayer is meant to give rise to charity ultimately fasting is meant to give rise to charity because it links me more deeply to God who is Caritas who is love so I'm giving in some ways that's that's what it's all about it also I think really heightens our sense of solidarity within the mystical body that we're connected to each other we cannot say someone who's suffering that's their problem I'm not gonna worry about it's not my problem no it's our problem it's our problem certainly all we who are baptized but Aquinas speaks even of you know the virtual mystical body that that everyone in principle is meant to be part of the mystical body and so anyone anywhere who's suffering is brother and sister to me and almsgiving signals that you know in a very vivid way I think I live out in California where the homeless problem is very acute and it's becoming more acute all over the place are there poor people literally at our doorsteps now yeah very often lent a beautiful time you know to do something to reach out to them yeah maybe offer a few more examples I think when it comes to almsgiving a lot of people just have in mind maybe dropping an extra envelope in the collection plate when it passes on Sunday maybe writing a check to a charity but what are some ways we can give alms beyond just that and those aren't bad I mean so even those things you mentioned kind of off the top of your head those are those are good but think of so many ways let's say you typically tip 15% at a restaurant of 20% how about in the lens up at 5% does it's as a form of almsgiving tip your waiter or waitress a little more than you usually do how about during Lent I realize this might get you on every mailing list in America but you just make a resolution that any time during Lent some solicitation for money comes from a charity give something you're not gonna ask any questions you're just gonna say okay I abandon myself to God's providence and God will send me of places that need my help give something put a poor box in your in your house for Lent specially like you've got all your kids branded people with big families whenever anyone leaves the house they have to put something in the poor box and it could be a little bit could be the diamond doll er whatever but how about for those forty days every time you leave the house you're gonna put something in the poor box to remind you of those in the world who are in great need one that I recommended over the years the night boy I challenged myself because I'm not very good at following this but when you're buying something during Lent whether you're buying a car you're buying a you're buying a suit of clothes you're buying a TV set or you're buying you know groceries find the item that you really want and could afford but on purpose by the next level down the one that's less expensive and give the difference of the poor so let's say make it you know it will give a grand example I'm buying a car and and here's the car I want and and I could afford it all right on purpose get the next one down but give the difference to the poor there's a TV set I really want I want that giant TV set I could afford that buy a smaller one give the difference to the poor all kinds of ways and and be creative you know one thing I recommend too during Lent make sure you've got loose dollar bills all that in your pocket so that when someone you see on the street is asking for money maybe especially during Lent you say I'm not gonna ask any questions I'm not gonna have any hesitation I'm just gonna give something just get an arms giving mentality in in mind altering those forty days well it's time now for a question from one of our listeners we love hearing from our listeners and we'd love to hear your question just send it in by visiting ask Bishop Baron comm you can record your question on any device today we have one from Sarah who lives in Central Texas and she's got a burning question about God's nature here's her question my name is Sarah and I'm from Central Texas my question is how do we respond to someone if they made the statement if God made us in God's image and God prefers a family to be husband wife and children then it must mean that there is God represented as mother yeah thanks I'm it's it's a complex really set of questions you're raising can God be represented as mother sure in a way the Bible uses maternal metaphors a lot for God God you know in in himself of course is beyond gender specification God's a spirit so we wouldn't talk about God being gendered the way we are and so can we use metaphors drawn from from the feminine world of course the Bible does it all the time so God loves us the way you know could a mother forget her child even if she forget I will never forget you I've carved you in the palm of my hand etc so sure we can represent God that way what I wouldn't do is kind of over draw the the connection or overstate the metaphor there is something like family that God is like a family because we talked about Father Son and spirit there is real differentiation among the persons but I wouldn't over draw it if now we have to say what God's like like father mother or child if I can be a little bold and follow Baltazar here in a way the differences among the persons are greater than any differences in the created order and I'm saying that they're there the ground for all differentiation so our men and women different of course and are the father and son and spirit different yeah even even more dramatically but I wouldn't press the the metaphor so we have to see within god mother you know father mother and child feminine metaphors sure but I'd stick with father son in spirit well thanks for that question Sarah and thanks to all of you for watching and listening to this episode of the word on fire show again if you haven't seen the new setup for the word on fire show be sure to go to word on fire show com click on this episode view the video version or you can find it on YouTube and Facebook also I've mentioned this over the last few episodes I'll mention it one more time that as we're beginning Lent I want to encourage you to encourage your parish to sign up for the word on fire engage platform we're offering it for free during Lent you can find it at word on fire show calm / engage when your parish signs up you get all sorts of cool tools and resources to evangelize your parish including full access to all of Bishop Aaron's films and study programs for every parishioner that means every person in your parish can watch the Catholicism series the pivotal player series all of Bishop Baer and study programs so if that sounds appealing go to word on fire show.com slash engage well thanks so much for listening we'll see you next week on the word on fire show you [Music]

Channel: Bishop Robert Barron

Views: 201,922

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Id: C-GOu0nM5Xg

Length: 26min 41sec (1601 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 24 2020