February 2008
My dear faithful,
At
this time of Lent, I would like to invite you to offer your
efforts and sacrifices to the Good Lord with a revived generosity,
and in particular with the practice of fasting and abstinence.
It seems to me that today, it is more timely to recall to
mind, in season and out of season, the necessity of the
cross in our lives. We naturally have a tendency to shrink
from doing penance. Nevertheless, we must awaken in ourselves
the spirit of faith, a spirit which is supernatural. We
believe, indeed, that Our Lord Jesus Christ has come to
save us; we know that He saves us through His cross, through
His sacrifice offered in expiation for our sins. “Crux
fidelis”, we will sing on Good Friday, “Cross,
sign of faith, among us, (…) through which the Redeemer
of the world in immolating Himself was victorious.”
This is our faith, this is our certitude, this is everything
we hope in.
But
we also have learned from Our Lord Jesus Christ of our obligation
to carry our cross: “If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow
me.” (Mt.16,24) but also: “Whosoever doth not
carry his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”
(Lk.14,27)
Our
Lord has come to teach us the spirit of the cross, the acceptance
of the sufferings of this life, the voluntary offering of
sacrifices, the fleeing from the occasions of sins…
as ways to expiate our sins, as a means for eternal salvation.
After the original sin, human nature being corrupted, the
mortification of our senses is a duty. We cannot blindly
follow our passions, our impulses, our feelings. We must
therefore do penance to express our sorrow for sins committed,
for original sin but also for our personal sins, and to
increase our spiritual strength, to restore health to our
souls.
It is obvious that this is clearly opposed to the spirit
of the world which, on the contrary, seeks easiness and
comfort, tries to flee any type of sacrifice, to satisfy
all the demands of the passions… as the way of life
in an illusory and short-lived worldly “happiness”.
It
is opportune to recall the mystery of the cross, and consequently
the necessity of doing penance, because this is becoming
more and more difficult to accept. The world absolutely
refuses it and has always refused it. It finds all types
of mortification repugnant. The cross is and remains an
unacceptable scandal. We can all say the same thing –
the world with its habits of comfort, of consumption, of
hedonism render the sacrifice and the offering of oneself
more and more difficult.
Even
in the Catholic Church, particularly since the Second Vatican
Council, there is a relaxing, if not a disappearance, of
penitential practice. The mortification of the flesh is
no longer spoken of. When the traditional Catholic practices
of fast and abstinence are not defamed, they are passed
over in silence.
My
dear faithful, let us endeavor to not fail in the duty of
our Christian life to practice penance, especially during
the time of Lent.
In
educating the youth, we must teach the value of sacrifice.
It is necessary for the children to learn to offer the little
difficulties of each day, to do some sacrifices, to impose
upon themselves some restrictions, to see with the eyes
of Faith the deceptions and trials of their life. We often
complain of the lack of vocations, of the need of priests
and of religious, but the origin of this lack of vocations
is found precisely in the refusal of the cross, in the disappearance
of the spirit of sacrifice. To consecrate oneself to God,
to offer one’s life for the service of God, is by
its very nature a sacrifice. The vocation can only be understood
through meditation on the mystery of the cross. Without
the voluntary acceptance of the cross there is not a profound
Christian life and consequently no vocation.
Thus,
I wish for you a holy Lent, filled with graces and blessings.
Fr. Arnaud Rostand
District Superior of Canada
