Dies Cinerum

 

Back at the Abbey, one of the many tasks the seminarians performed was managing the wealth of rose gardens on the Abbey property. While this task was typically assigned during work afternoons, it was not uncommon to see two priests work on the roses in their spare time. They would often be found watering, pruning, distributing fertilizer among a myriad of other tasks. 

Despite the difficult work, and the work was often performed under the hot California sun, the priests were always joyful to do it. Now it may be because the work was a pleasant distraction from the many other sources of stress or irritation, but I concede that they loved the work because they loved the roses; they loved the joy the roses brought others; they loved the scent, the beauty, and colour: working on the rose garden had a definite and wonderful outcome.

Now working (and suffering) with joy should not be a foreign concept to us Catholics. Work, by nature, is not pleasant, but it is not incompatible with joy. In fact, we seminarians used to joke that another priest only found joy in work. I wish to dispel, however, at least for the moment, that the labour of Lent must be deprived of all joy.  Fasting, prayer and almsgiving may be difficult works of mercy, but they do not mean that we must drag our feet to do it.

Fasting, prayer and alsmgiving are Lenten works; we fast, or prune away, those unnecessary things, those things that drag us away from the good to which we ought to strive. Prayer nourishes our soul, and we give alms, from our own treasury, for the good of others.

Yes these works are difficult: fasting from our favourite delights can be trying; finding time for prayer can be trying, especially when we come to the end of the day and we've already forgotten; almsgiving, when we would rather save for something we want, or even spend for something we want, can be difficult. 

But when we put those things together, the garden of our soul can be prepared well, beautiful and aromatic for our Lord. And that should be enough, maybe just for a moment, for us to be joyful in our work for Him who we love.

Happy Lent Everyone!