Lent season is coming to an end, as the Holy Week begins. (Officially, Lent ends on the evening of Maundy Thursday, right before the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, which marks the start of the Easter Triduum). But the question is, have you already done what this season asks of you? Throughout the year, God asks us to answer His invitation to grow our relationship with Him and to deal with our neighbors morally and benevolently. In fact, these things are asked of us each and every day, which is why it is said that being Catholic is a lifestyle. We have a constant calling to love God above all and to love our neighbors, whatever the liturgical season.
However, the Church teaches us that there is something, in particular, that is asked of us during the season of Lent. It is like the ‘core’ or ‘central’ message, which I notice that many of us Catholics actually forget to focus on. Some of you probably practice the so-called “Three Pillars of Lent” namely, prayer, fasting and almsgiving. I personally think that by contemplating on the ‘central message’ of Lent and following it to heart, and by anchoring those three pillars in a deep understanding of this ‘core’ idea, you will finally find that your Lent is ‘especially meaningful’ and ‘very fruitful.’
That is why, as the season ‘finale’ nears, I’m writing this “Ultimate” Lent Reflection for you, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. Read on.
My Reflection:
1. Before I elaborate on the central message of Lent, here’s a review of what this season is about. Lent serves as a special time for repentance– to feel remorse for the sins we have committed against God and other people.
2. Let’s step aside a bit from the spiritual and look at this casual example I parallel it with. When someone does you a favor, you want to make it up to them. You say something like, ‘I owe you one next time!’ Or in the Philippines, we usually say in Tagalog, ‘Ililibre kita!’ (I’m going to treat you out!). That’s because you sincerely feel sorry for bothering them, and you’re sorry for the ‘istorbo’ (inconvenience) you’ve caused them. At the same time, you feel sincerely grateful and indebted to them for going out of their way and extending help, even it’s a small favor.
3. A more serious example is when you know that you’ve hurt someone. When you are truly sorry, you want to make it up to him or her personally. Initially, the least you can do is call them up to say sorry. Then you go see them in person and humbly say your apology. At the same time, you have the desire to give back to them whatever you think is due for what you’ve done.
4. In either case, you have a feeling of repentance and a sense of indebtedness when you know that you have inconvenienced someone or harmed somebody. Lent is the time that the Church gives us to fully express our remorse over those actions that caused others trouble and pain, and more than anything, hurt God.
5. For us devout Catholics, even when our sins are not grave or mortal, we still feel that we ‘owe’ God one next time for our day-to-day smaller sins. If we seem indebted to a person who does us a favor, how much more indebted should we be to God who gave the world His Only Son to redeem us from sin and eternal death, and who continuously bestows upon us and our families all those spiritual and temporal graces? And to be reminded of Our Lord’s Holy Sacrifice, we are obliged to do our own sacrifices such as fasting and abstinence. If personal circumstances allow, some also do corporal works of mercy (feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned, bury the dead), as a way of ‘making it up’ to God and taking part in His suffering.
6. Just like what I mentioned above about initially calling someone to say sorry and finally having the courage to face that person to apologize, Lent encourages us to do the following- to remember with remorse our sins that have offended God, to communicate with God about these sins by spending more time in prayer, and lastly, to approach God and seek His pardon through the Sacrament of Confession. Consequently, we offer up more sacrifices to God during Lent as a form of penance and in atonement for what we think is due.
7. Now here is the central message of Lent that is asked of us Catholics– to acknowledge our own sinfulness.
8. Lent is not merely about strictly following obligations outlined by the Church like feeling sorry for our mistakes or abstaining from meat or giving alms. It is a time to scrutinize ourselves, both externally and internally, and to accept that we are ‘not as good’ as we think we are; that we are sinful. Since Lent is about repentance, then acknowledging our own sinfulness is the “ultimate” foundation. But are we able to do it wholeheartedly?
9. ‘True’ and ‘sincere’ repentance or remorse starts by admitting that you have done something wrong, or that you fell short on something. However, we are always in danger of not admitting our own sinfulness, of not accepting that our virtues fall short, of concealing sins that are known only to us, of avoiding blame that what we did hurt someone, of denying that we repeatedly offend God. Repentance becomes insincere. We could be like, ‘I’m sorry… But actually it’s your fault.’ or ‘Well, I apologize… only because I have to say it.’ or ‘There’s nothing I’m sorry about. I did what’s right…’ (even though the truth is, he or she did what’s wrong). These all sound insincere. Filipinos say that the words of insincere apologies are ‘dumadaan lang sa ilong..’ (passing through the nose) because the person doesn’t truly mean it.
10. If we don’t acknowledge our sinfulness, our sin is Pride, which is considered as the worst sin of the Devil and the head of all sins. This is also the favorite sin of the scribes and Pharisees back in the time of Jesus.
11. Speaking of the Pharisees, I recall the Fifth Sunday of Lent Gospel (John 8:1-11) as I figure that it relates to the ‘central message’ of Lent, which I’m trying to explain in this Post. So those prideful Pharisees were desperate to find anything against Jesus. They could not accept why a poor man, a humble carpenter’s son, claimed to be the Messiah. So they used the adulterous woman and brought her to Jesus to push Him to say anything, especially regarding stoning her to death according to the law of Moses. You know, they’re waiting for Jesus to slip up some words that they could use against Him.
12. We learn from the Gospel that Jesus did not mind them and continued to write on the ground with His finger. When the Pharisees pressed on the issue and demanded an answer, Jesus told them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
13. Technically speaking, the adulterous woman was really immoral for living in scandalous sin. And technically speaking, those scribes and Pharisees could argue that they were just ‘doing their part’ in obeying Jewish laws and fighting adultery, fornication and other immoral affairs.
14. But Jesus knew them so well; that they were not simply after enforcing moral laws. Those Pharisees and scribes thought highly of themselves and of how ‘godly’ they were. Pride dimmed their hearts. They readily condemned the worst of sinners for disobeying the Ten Commandments without any regard to their own wrongs, hypocrisy, and self-righteousness.
15. I figure that there is also another point to consider from this Gospel. The scribes and Pharisees wanted to test Jesus, which is a grave sin in itself. Remember who else tested Jesus? The Devil. Satan tempted Jesus as He was fasting in the desert for forty days and forty nights.
16. Why did those scribes and Pharisees test God? Because of their self-righteous pride; because they failed to acknowledge their own sinfulness. They thought they knew better than Jesus because they had a facade of virtues. They were infamously known for showing off to the public how much they prayed and did sacrifices (Matthew 6:1-6).
17. Many of us Catholics can become like those scribes and Pharisees, if we aren’t careful. They usually say, ‘Ang bait ko kaya!’ (I’m so kind, you know!) But just because we are religious, just because we are regular Massgoers, church servers in our local parishes or volunteers for a cause, and just because we are not doing immoral things (like the adulterous woman in the Gospel) do not automatically make us ‘kind-hearted.’ Some people may be spiritual, uphold certain moral values and adhere to rules, but are selfish, vain, unjust, and cold-hearted. Avoid being like those scribes and Pharisees who were all about themselves and drowned in self-centeredness and narcissism.
18. Don’t get me wrong and think that being religious, virtuous in morals and obedient to rules are futile. In fact, they all help against secularism. We, practicing Catholics, keep on trying harder to stick with our morals and values. However, being true Catholic doesn’t end there. The struggle for many Catholics in this modern world is that they often fail to see themselves as ‘sinful’ and find no reason to correct their attitudes. Like I just said above, Catholics of this type have sins that are ‘hidden’ and often known only to those near them, such as their husband, wife or other family members. In Tagalog, the expression goes, “Kung alam niyo lang!” (If you only know! [what this person actually is at home]). At times, even relatives and friends could not see their secret personalities and evil attitudes; only those super close to them see their ‘maitim na budhi’ (dark innermost self). I personally have noticed a very distinct characteristic of such people- they feel a strong guilt whenever they miss “The Mealtime Prayer.” It’s evident that it ‘deeply’ bothers them. On the contrary, they show no guilt in being mean and rude, and doing unkind things to people, whether close to them or not. Their everyday wrongdoings never bother them. I find it awfully weird that such contradiction in character is a most common trait of theirs.
19. Jesus warns us, just as He condemned the Pharisees and scribes of His time, that self-righteousness prevents us from truly knowing God and ourselves. So unless we recognize our own sinfulness, our repentance is not genuine, and the sacrifices and offerings we make this Lent, or any other time of the year, is empty. Do not refuse to look deep within yourself. Acknowledge the presence of outward and inward sins in your life and let yourself cooperate with God’s spiritual graces that come from the Eucharist and Sacrament of Penance.
20. Finally, for those of you who don’t know yet, one of the things I love doing is reading. One time, I read about this idea in the field of psychology that most people, to some extent, fall into the so-called Dunning-Kruger effect. Basically, this test says that those people who are highly competent and truly great at something tend to underestimate themselves. On the other hand, the ones who are incompetent overestimate themselves as ‘experts’ when they are definitely not. For example, some people claim, “I’m a great cook. You gotta try my specialty dish that I cook better than anybody else.” But once you taste their food, you just instantly know that it isn’t good by general standards, and they can’t cook at all.
21. I find it interesting that I can relate the Dunning-Kruger idea to most things in the world, even to our lives as Catholics. I’ve read about the lives of so many Saints, and one thing is strikingly common among them: Saints who perfected their virtues during their lifetime constantly saw themselves as “grave sinners” despite living lives of exceptional holiness. I’m in awe of these truly competent and great Saints for their humility in acknowledging their sinfulness to a point that they underestimated their real ‘goodness.’ On the other hand, like I said earlier, there are Catholics with dark innermost selves who won’t admit at all the ‘huge’ wrongs in them. Filipinos have a slang term for this, “santong kabayo” (saintly horse). Pretending and putting up a fake front are what they are ‘great’ at. They believe that they are ‘holy’ and ‘close’ to God, when they are not at all.
22. My brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, let’s focus on the central message of Lent. This season asks us to examine our lives and to be truthful in acknowledging our ‘obvious’ and ‘hidden’ sinfulness. If we do, we will have a more solemn observance of the Holy Week, and be well-prepared to witness and receive Our Risen Lord on Easter Sunday.
***
Let us have a meaningful and fruitful Lent 2019. May God bless and guide us this Holy Week.
Our Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us!
Amen.
She graduated cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas, the country's Pontifical and Catholic university, with an AB in Legal Management and minor units in Theology.
As an unmarried woman, prayer holds a central place in her daily life, with a focus on the Rosary and the Divine Office. Embodying her faith, she emphasizes the growth of her inner spiritual life, guided by the wisdom of Carmelite spirituality.
God manifested to her in a unique and radical manner, which made her know Who He truly is and led her to total surrender of her life to Him.
She has studied the Bible with her family, developing a particular fondness for the Old Testament.
Her adorable and intelligent toy poodle is a delightful companion in her daily life, bringing warmth and joy to her home.
Her hobbies include reading about everything, learning Japanese and German, listening to music and playing the flute.
In her leisure time, she enjoys gaming on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo 3DS, iOS and OS, and collecting things related to PlayStation and Nintendo.
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