By C. O’Donnell, O.Carm.
Most of us will have our own experiences and meaning of Lent; many will associate it with giving up things. Later the idea gained currency that it would be better to do things for Lent than to give up things. If it is something specific, like going to Mass or saying some prayers, it may work; but if is in the form: “I will avoid gossip,” then we might as well have no resolution at all.
Lent was originally a time of preparation for Easter and for catechumens a final preparation for baptism. By the 4th century it was forty days, recalling Jesus’ forty day fast in the desert (see Matt 4:1-11). To get the exact forty — excluding Sundays — a few days were added on, so that it began with Ash Wednesday.
The idea of giving up something or doing something for Lent needs to be looked at in the wide perspective of asceticism in Christian tradition.
The New Testament
The word “asceticism” is found only once in the New Testament; in Acts 24:16 we have the verb ascô, which is translated as “I do my best” (NRSV) or “I train myself” (REB). The reality is not absent; the Christian Church took over the three great Hebrew practices of fasting, almsgiving and prayer (see Matt 6:1-18 with Tobit 12:8).
The New Testament will not, therefore, allow us to dismiss asceticism. Not only the teaching of Jesus, but the Apostolic Letters all point to significant areas to which we must attend. The Pauline letters move from doctrinal considerations to practical morality and asceticism in his letters (e.g. Rom 12-15; Gal 5-6; Phil 4; Col. 3-4; see the whole of James). In these teachings we find both positive and negative advice: there are good things to be done and evil things to be avoided.
Asceticism and mysticism
The scholastic period saw the emergence of much writing in the early vernaculars which we would today perhaps call ascetical or mystical. There are two aspects to our spiritual journey, the ascetical which is associated with struggle—struggle to do right and avoid what is harmful; and mystical which is more about receiving from God.
It is in the context of this controversy and of contemporary unease about asceticism that the writers of the Carmelite school would seem to have a significant contribution to an ongoing debate.
The Carmelite Rule
The Carmelite Rule is among the briefest of the great rules. It is just over 1,500 words. The hermits living on Mount Carmel asked the local bishop, St. Albert of Avogadro (ca 1150-1214), then Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, for a rule or way of life sometime after 1206. These hermits lived in separate cells but were gathered into a fraternity by the Rule of Albert.
The Carmelite Rule consists of twenty-four short paragraphs dealing with the basic structures of the settlement on Mount Carmel, with liturgical and personal prayer, and with regulations concerning fasting, silence, work and spiritual warfare (based on Eph 6:10-18). A remarkable feature of this Rule is the number of times that the legislator inserts moderating clauses that allow exceptions depending on circumstances. The prior is appointed “by common consent;” places are to be “suitable and convenient;” refectory reading is prescribed if it “can be done without difficulty;” there is constant prayer, “unless there is another duty;” goods are to be distributed “according to need;” daily Mass is enjoined if “there is no difficulty.” In the two paragraphs on fasting and abstinence there are eleven exclusions with the reminder, “necessity overrides every law.”
Other ascetical norms are about work and silence. The very last words of the Rule are “See that the bounds of common sense are not exceeded, however, for common sense is the guide of the virtues.” The author is strictest not on fasting or other practices, but about work, serious and continual work: “earn your bread by silent work; this is the way of holiness and goodness; see that you follow it.” The broad and compassionate tone of the Rule has in a profound way left its mark on Carmel.
Asceticism in the Carmelite school
When we look at the writers of the Carmelite school, we can certainly be struck by their insistence on the need of asceticism. Faithful to the genial spirit of the Rule mainstream Carmelite writers do not advocate extreme penances. Moreover, they are much more concerned with purity of heart, the aim of asceticism and with freedom from sin and destructive attachments or passions. A phrase typical of Carmelite spirituality is vacare Deo (empty or surrendered to God).
Lenten themes
In the next six weeks there are seven themes that continually emerge in the prayers and readings for Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours.
“Penance is being alert to our failings and a willingness to do something about them.”
Lent is a time for penance. We need to be prepared to what we do not feel like doing. There are certain features of our lives, of our personalities that we would be better without. Some of these are quite simply sins. We go astray in many ways, and strangely the smaller the faults, the more difficult it can be to eliminate them. Penance is being alert to our failings and a willingness to do something about them. The second theme is conversion. This means turning away from what is sinful or dangerous. The other side of conversion is a third theme of returning to God. We should view our behaviour and our lives in the mirror of the teaching of Jesus. Fourthly, we have to have an attitude to our failings and sin. This is sorrow. A feature of contemporary society is the lack of sorrow for evil-doing. Sorrow for sin and for the evil in our lives is essential for spiritual health.
However, these four themes of penance, conversion, returning to God and sorrow for sin are not fully within our power. The Christian view is that we cannot really do much that is of value except with God’s help. Hence the fifth theme is redemption: God saves us. He will not do it without our co-operation. The redemption we need arises from the sixth Lenten theme, the passion of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to save us; he taught and healed, before dying for us. Contemporary spirituality neglects too much the Cross of Christ; the Stations of the Cross are not nearly so popular today. The seventh Lenten theme is baptism. The weeks of Lent are a final preparation for the sacrament. Baptism brings us into the family of God, with relationships to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Baptism then brings us into the Church, the Christian community, with an obligation to love and serve. Finally, baptism draws us in imitation and discipleship of Jesus.
These seven themes found in the Lenten liturgy can give us a new vision of ourselves. Once they are pointed out, then we can hear them with new ears: penance, conversion, returning to God, sorrow for sin, redemption, the passion of Jesus and baptism will feature in the prayers and readings, with ever new lights and insights.
The Lenten trilogy
Over the centuries the Church has simplified the Lenten observance to three: prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Prayer is coming before God in our creatureliness, in our beauty and our disfigurement to seek a relationship with our Father, with Jesus our brother and Son of God, with the Holy Spirit who gives life to all our activity. Without reflection and prayer, our Lent will not go anywhere.
Fasting is a most ancient form of penance and can serve as a symbol of what we are determined to do or avoid in Lent. What should we do for Lent? Which is better to give up something or to choose something to do? It depends. When we look at the various areas of our spiritual lives, we will see where our weaknesses are, and then we can choose what is most beneficial for our spiritual growth.
Finally, almsgiving is the aspect of penance that invites us to look after those who are poor in any way. We are familiar with giving money for charity. We may not have much money and may not be able to give much to charity, it is important to give at least a little. But there is something that all of us have to give, which is our time. I know that people say that our society is time poor. Yes. But all could give some time to others. It might be as little as an hour or two per week that we commit to some needy people, to an organisation of group that serves the community or Church.
So this Lent invites us to look at our lives, to see what our weaknesses are. Then we can engage in the three classical forms of penance: prayer, fasting and almsgiving in accordance with our possibilities.
Light from St. John of the Cross
The areas that need attention in our lives are matters that damage us and hurt others. It is only by changing our attitudes and lives to God’s way that we find a new peace, a fresh beauty in ourselves and others. The most accurate doctor of spiritual disease is probably St. John of the Cross, a Spanish Carmelite mystic who died in 1592.
He examined the human condition and realised that we have two sources of weakness and sin in our lives – feelings and the dispositions of our minds.
“It is only through an ever greater yielding to God’s love that we will come into wholeness.”
Feelings are facts. They may be positive or negative. The main ones are fear, joy, anger and hope. When these are rightly aligned, then our lives can easily be in order. But whereas we need to pay attention to our feelings, they are not always reliable guides. Indeed emotional maturity is marked by the ability to act irrespective of feelings. Pupils need to study whether they feel like it or not. John of the Cross teaches very clearly that our feelings must not determine how we live.
The other problems arise from the way we think, the way we desire, the way we remember. Each of us values being in control. But our thinking can so often be askew. We don’t get the whole picture. The cure for our intellects is faith. God’s word leads us into areas of truth that are beyond our human capacity. We are invited to walk in faith and to set aside selfishness in order to love God and to love others.
The third problem arises from memory. We are very often in slavery to memory. Hurts can linger for years. In addition memory may cripple us, as when we do not want to face what is new. St. John of the Cross points us in the direction of hope. Hope is for the future; it is not limited by the past. Christian hope is assurance that God will be with us in the challenges of the future.
The most important teaching of John of the Cross is, however, that we cannot get right by ourselves. Not only do we need grace for every spiritual advance, but there are serious limitations to what we can do even with normal grace. The further stage comes only when we really surrender to God’s will, when we lay ourselves open to his healing. It is only through an ever greater yielding to God’s love that we will come into wholeness.
Within the Carmelite tradition, asceticism is not a value sought for itself. The demanding but balanced asceticism of the Rule is presumed, and there are only occasional passing references to disciplines or instruments of penance. One could signal three major contributions of the Carmelite school today in the study of mysticism. Firstly, they have a wholesome doctrine of the Cross, which they speak more often about than about ascetical practices. Secondly, the great Carmelites are supremely focussed not on themselves but on God. The path to God is through unselfish loving. Thirdly, they have realism about the human condition, which contradicts the superficial optimism of much contemporary spirituality. Though human nature is good, and creation is to be celebrated, sinful and selfish tendencies lurk deeply within us, so that union with the all-holy God requires profound purification or healing. Some contemporary denials of the need for asceticism can forget that the Paschal Mystery into which we are being inserted is a journey from Calvary to Easter to Pentecost.
