When Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil.  And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry. And the tempter coming said to him: If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread [Matt. 4_1-3]

THE devil has a special fondness for people when they are alone. Christ was not tempted in a town or among the multitudes. It was during His forty days of fasting in the desert that He was approached by the devil. Satan and his assistants are put on high alert when someone might be in a position to converse with God. They hate it when their targets set off on their own.

The group man and the team player are allowed to drift along. But the person who embarks on a solitary path with no teammates prompts the famous general to pull out his maps. The commander studies his battle plan, considers shortcuts and highlights inadequate defenses. Every campaign is unique.

“The devil envies those who are tending toward a better life,” said Thomas Aquinas. A mother returns home with her newborn. She is excited and happy. After a few weeks or months, she may find herself battling the temptation toward discouragement. He tells her she is lonely. He tells her home is shabby and poor. He tells her she isn’t doing anything important. He tells her to leave the desert and turn stones into bread.

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“PEOPLE now-a-days assume that religious truth can have no definite outline, and that each man must discover and define it for himself. And, however definite he may choose to be, one law is equally binding on us all. No one must be certain. Each one must concede to his neighbour as much certainty as he claims for himself. The objective certainty of truth is gone. The highest rule of certainty to each is the conviction of his own understanding. And this, in the revelation of God, and in that knowledge which is life eternal.”

— Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, Grounds of Faith

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“WE have, elsewhere, spoken of the appropriateness of this beautiful Psalm [90] to the spirit of the Church during the Season of Lent. It bids the Christian soul confide in the divine aid. She is now devoting her whole energies to prayer; she is engaged in battle with her own and God’s enemies. She has need of support. Let her not be afraid God tells her, in these words of the Introit, that her confidence in him shall not be in vain.”

— Dom Prosper Guéranger, First Sunday of Lent

He shall cry to me, and I  will hear him: I will deliver  him, and I will glorify him: I  will fill him with length of days.
Ps. He that dwelleth in the aid of the Most high, shall  abide under the protection of  the God of Heaven.

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“Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”
— by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

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“[S]t. Gregory says that there is this difference between the pleasures of the body and those of the soul, that the former we desire with great impatience when we have them not, and when we have got them, we make but little account of them. …. But with spiritual things it is just the other way: when we have them not, then they disgust and nauseate us: but when we have them and possess them, then we value them more, and desire them more, and all the more the more we taste them.”

— Practice of Perfection and Christian Virtues by Alphonsus Rodriguez, S.J. (1526-1619)

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Psalm 37

O Lord, rebuke me not in Thine indignation; nor chastise me in Thy wrath. For Thine arrows stick fast in me: and Thou hast laid Thy hand heavily upon me. There is no health in my flesh, because of Thy wrath: there is no rest in my bones, because of my sins. For my iniquities are gone over my head: and as a heavy burden, press sorely upon me. My wounds have putrified and are corrupt: because of my foolishness. I am become miserable, and am bowed down even to the end: I go sorrowfully all the day long. For my loins are filled with illusions: and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am afflicted and humbled exceedingly: I have roared for the groaning of my heart. (more…)

It is obvious that, unless we know our faults, we cannot detest them and consequently cannot correct them. A study of self very often reveals that self-love has clouded our view, hiding in deceit those faults which are so apparent to those about us and so open to God.

FROM How to Root Out Hidden Faults by Fr. James F. McElhone:

Pride of sensitiveness is brought about by self-love being wounded. The sensitive person is quickly hurt. In fact, it may be said, he prepares himself to be wounded. Ordinarily he imagines things, he misjudges, he misinterprets, he exaggerates, he is suspicious and distrustful. His memory is prone to cling to what has happened to him in an adverse way; he remembers who and what have hurt him. He is ready to see a slight and to feel it. He plans revenge. He fights mental battles of what he will say and how he will act. He is unforgiving, carrying ill-feeling for short or long periods of time and in the same mood refusing to speak or speaking coldly to the one who is the object of his bitterness. (more…)

IN truly Christian countries, Lent is publicly observed, not just a private practice. In the past, European nations engaged in the following practices during Lent:

— The suspension of all warfare during the penitential season
— The closure of law courts because proceedings were believed to interfere with interior recollection and penance
— The closure of theaters and public festivals
— The suspension of wedding celebrations
— The public observance of ecclesiastical fast laws, limiting food to one meal a day and at times prohibiting meat, animal fat, dairy products, and eggs.

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Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. Let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities: Lord, who shall abide it. For with Thee there is merciful forgiveness: and because of Thy law, I have waited for Thee, O Lord. My soul hath waited on His word: my soul hath hoped in the Lord. From the morning watch even until night, let Israel hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is mercy: and with Him plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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“HAVE mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies: blot out my iniquity. Wash me more yet from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my iniquity, and my sin is always before me. Against Thee only have I sinned, and done evil in Thy sight: that Thou mayst be justified in Thy words, and mayst overcome when Thou art judged. For behold, I was conceived in iniquities: and in sins did my mother conceive me. For behold, Thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of Thy wisdom Thou hast made manifest unto me.” Psalm 50

Praying the seven Penitential Psalms each day in Lent has a long tradition.

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1. WE fast for three reasons.

(i) To check the desires of the flesh. So St. Paul says in fastings, in chastity (2 Cor. vi. 5), meaning that fasting is a safeguard for chastity. As St. Jerome says, “Without Ceres, and Bacchus, Venus would freeze,” as much as to say that lust loses its heat through spareness of food and drink.

(ii) That the mind may more freely raise itself to contemplation of the heights. We read in the book of Daniel that it was after a fast of three weeks that he received the revelation from God (Dan. x. 2-4).

(iii) To make satisfaction for sin. This is the reason given by the prophet Joel, Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting and in weeping and in mourning (Joel ii. 12). And here is what St. Augustine writes on the matter. “Fasting purifies the soul. It lifts up the mind, and it brings the body into subjection to the spirit. It makes the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of desire, puts out the flames of lust and the true light of chastity.”

— St. Thomas Aquinas

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“I can’t promise you not to return to the Grotto; something tells me I ought to go; it drives me thither. I must follow the impulse within me.”

— Bernadette Soubirous, recounted in St. Bernadette and Her Visions of Our Lady by Richard F. Clarke, S.J., 1888

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“THE safest and most necessary austerity, is that which regulates the senses, passions, tongue, and conversation; which cuts off idleness and all occasions of sinning, and mortifies self-will, obstinacy in our own opinion, and the vain esteem of ourselves. This kind of mortification has this advantage over the other, that we practice it without danger, that it is difficult to exceed in it, that the carnal man fears it much more than the exterior, that he is always sensible of it, and never accustoms himself thereto.

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“FOR, if thou freely indulgest in meat and drink, and bridlest not thine appetite by fasting, it needs must be that the noble fire of the spirit, smothered by the frequent indulgence of the body, should grow dull, and the soul, like the drowsy flesh it inhabits, fall into heavy sleep.

“Therefore, let us bridle our bodily desires, and follow the clear interior light of prudence. Thus, the soul having her sight made keener, will breathe more freely, and will pray to the Creator with the stronger hope.”

— Prudentius (348-c. 413 AD)

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“ST. Augustine says: ‘Heavy work it is, to keep at it, continualIy mortifying and curbing our will: look at the prize and reward to be given you for it, and you will see that it is all very little in comparison: hope of reward lightens the stress of toiL’  So he says we see here in the labours of merchants, farmers and soldiers. Now if the fury and force of the sea and its fearful waves do not dismay mariners and traders, nor rains and storms field-labourers, nor wounds and deaths soldiers, nor blows and falls wrestlers, when they set their eyes on the human hopes which they expect to realize by their labours, how shall one who looks for the kingdom of heaven quail before the labour and mortification that virtue requires? (more…)

BELOW is a list of reading possibilities for Lent, including familiar classics and lesser known works — all of which are secondary to the most important books of all: the Old and New Testaments. If you don’t mind reading on a screen (or listening to audio versions), you can obtain any of these books below for free.

LENTEN READING

Perfect Contrition: The Golden Key to Paradise, Fr. J. de Driesch
The Passion and the Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ, St. Alphonsus de Liguori
A Catholic commentary on Holy Scripture; Bernard Orchard, ed.
Haydock’s Bible Commentary,George Leo Haydock
Of Prayer and Meditation, Ven. Louis of Granada
The Sinner’s Guide, Ven. Louis of Granada
Meditations for Lent, St. Thomas Aquinas
Lenten Sermons, Fr. Augustine Wirth
Pope St. Leo the Great’s Sermons on Lent
The Mystery of the Crown of Thorns, A Passionist
What Jesus Saw from the Cross, Fr. A.G. Sertillanges
A Doctor at Calvary: the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ as described by a surgeon, Dr. Pierre Barbet
The Foot of the Cross, by Fr. Frederick William Faber
Spiritual Conferences, by Fr. Frederick William Faber
The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ, Rev. Richard Clarke
The Sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Fr. Thomas Jesus (more…)

“OUR Redeemer would not have us receive the announcement of the great feast as one of sadness and melancholy. The Christian who understands what a dangerous thing it is to be behindhand with divine justice welcomes the season of Lent with joy; it consoles him. He knows that if he be faithful in observing what the Church prescribes, his debt will be less heavy upon him. These penances, these satisfactions (which the indulgence of the Church has rendered so easy), being offered to God unitedly with those of our Savior Himself, and being rendered fruitful by that holy fellowship which blends into one common propitiatory sacrifice the good works of all the members of the Church militant, will purify our souls, and make them worthy to partake in the grand Easter joy. (more…)

THE French abbot Dom Prosper Guéranger predicted in the 19th century that Western nations would be overrun by foreign invaders in the not-too-distant future. His prediction has proven true, a warning that people and governments of the West ignored.

In his writings on the pre-lenten season of Septuagesima, in the entry on Thursday of Sexuagesima Week, the monk explained why the West would be broken “in pieces like a potter’s vessel:”

God promised Noah that He would never more punish the earth with a deluge. But, in His justice, He has many times visited the sins of men with a scourge which, in more senses than one, bears a resemblance to a deluge: the invasion of enemies. We meet with these invasions in every age; and each time we see the hand of God. We can trace the crimes that each of them was sent to punish, and in each we find a manifest proof of the infinite justice wherewith God governs the world.

It is not requisite that we should here mention the long list of these revolutions, which we might almost say make up the history of mankind, for in its every page we read of conquests, extinction of races, destruction of nations, and violent amalgamations, which effaced the traditions and character of the several peoples that were thus forced into union. We will confine our considerations to the two great invasions, which the just anger of God has permitted to come upon the world since the commencement of the Christian era.

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