“There is still required a daily renewal to repair the shortcomings of our mortal nature, and whatever degree of progress has been made there is no one who should not be more advanced. All must therefore strive to ensure that on the day of redemption no one may be found in the sins of his former life.”
St. Leo the Great – Sermo 6 de Quadragesima, 1-2
Pope St. Leo the Great must have spoke these words around this time of year in the mid 400’s – the Quadragesima is the first Sunday of Lent (40 days before Good Friday). We are here at the starting line of Lent. Though we are all in different places, in a way we all start the same – striving to improve.
Continuous Growth in Holiness
If you’re like me, you’re still easing into Lenten mindset. This sermon prepares us well for the remaining days until Good Friday.
Lent is a time to vamp up our prayer, our fasting, and our giving of alms. The purpose is not just because they are nice things to do and we needed a time to do them. In fact, we should be doing those things all year long; however, now during Lent we hope to intensify these practices in order to renounce our failings and our wrongdoings. By giving up good things (because giving up bad should just be normal practice) we go beyond just a duty and into penance. St. Leo goes on to say that all the more care should be given to these practices during Lent, “so that the Lenten fast enjoined by the apostles may be fulfilled, not simply by abstinence from food but above all by the renunciation of sin.”
Yes, following the prescribed rules of Lent (no meat on Friday, etc.) is good, but if it becomes merely a following of rules then it has not done what it is meant to do. By fasting only out of obligation, you have not done bad, but you also have not gained all that you could.
How far beyond you go in your practices of prayer and fasting is not measured by comparing to others. As St. Leo describes in this sermon, we are all made equal because the measurement is this – have you improved and grown? or are you doing the same things you have done in the past?
The unattainability of perfection this side of Heaven unites us all here on earth. This is a relief. We are all at the starting line that we need to be at.
Giving – Making the Fast Profitable
“There is no more profitable practice as a companion to holy and spiritual fasting than that of almsgiving. This embraces under the single name of mercy many excellent works of devotion, so that the good intentions of all the faithful may be of equal value, even where there means are not.”
Almsgiving, as described here, sounds like a catalyst that compounds your fasting. In a way, it makes the fasting go from a personal practice (see Matthew 6:16) to an external work of mercy. By combining fasting with giving, you are able to take the profit of the sacrifice you have made and share it with the world.
Quite practically, by fasting you are spending or using less of something. Without giving alms, you will just consume the money, time, or goods that are saved on yourself in some other way. By increasing your giving, you put that sacrifice to work in the world.
We all have something to offer to God and to others, especially if we fast! Even if you don’t own a dime you can give of yourself in any capacity as long as it is done with the intention of love for God and others.
Like the widow who gives all that she has (see Mark 12:41-43), when we make the measure of almsgiving how much love rather than money is invested, the playing field becomes level once again.
Continuous Improvement is the Goal
I love that a man from so long ago can still speak into our lives today.
Often, we can see our desire to be holy as a goal that can be achieved once. We look at the lives of the great Saints as if they got holy then froze in their holiness. Holiness is not one place that you get to and then plateau. There is always more, and this is what unites every one of us.
Lenten sacrifices can feel like a box to be checked off, as if it is a pass/fail grade. Let’s strive to go deeper and find the areas in our life where we can continuously improve.
Are we going to finish Lent better than we started it?
Lastly, to make our practice more profitable, let’s give in our own capacity so as to show the love in our hearts.
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