Reviving My Lenten Efforts

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It’s only the third week of Lent, but my resolve is flagging. My prayer is cursory, my fasting half-hearted and my almsgiving nonexistent, so Saturday’s diocesan Lenten retreat gave my Lenten efforts a welcome boost. As Bishop Oscar A. Solis said in his message, the six weeks of this penitential season are “an opportunity to renew our relationship with God and with each other” – a reminder that I need to examine my life to see where I can do better.

Because of the pandemic, we didn’t gather as a faith community for the retreat. Rather, the bishop’s message and the keynote address were videotaped and posted on the diocesan website. Listening to them, I was struck by how much I miss the community of the Church. Sitting alone in front of the computer isn’t the same as joining others who also are engaged in their Lenten journey, with whom I can share the struggles and small successes. Even if we don’t join in conversation, when we’re together we have a solidarity that I don’t feel online, no matter how many others are viewing the same video at the same time. Never before had I realized so starkly the truth of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The human person needs to live in society. Society is not for him an extraneous addition but a requirement of his nature. Through the exchange with others, mutual service and dialogue with his brethren, man develops his potential; he thus responds to his vocation.”

Despite feeling isolated, I was encouraged by Bishop Solis’ message, that “Lent is not so much about doing something extra for God; rather, it’s a time to let God do something extra for us.”

The bishop also suggested being still and letting God speak in the silence of my heart – something I often fail to do because I’m so busy complaining to the Almighty about the state of the world, and asking him to ease my trials and tribulations.

After the bishop’s message came the presentation by the retreat master, Fr. Roger Keeler. It was reassuring to hear that he, too, felt that the video format was “less than ideal,” as he said.

Addressing the retreat theme, “Renewing Faith, Hope and Love in the Year of St. Joseph,” Fr. Keeler used as the basis of his talk Pope Francis’ apostolic letter Patris Corde (With a Father’s Heart). He also spoke about fear, which many of us are feeling because of the ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic.

I appreciated this message, because I often have to confront the irrational fears that my imagination likes to present, telling me that I can’t do this or shouldn’t do that because of what might happen. Almost always, those fears are never realized; this is especially true when I set my anxieties aside and trust in the message of Saint Paul to Timothy, which Fr. Keeler quoted: “God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of sound mind.”

Being reminded of this, I immediately resolved to remember to turn my fears over to God, who can help me discern which fears are rational and which are just my imagination working overtime.

Fr. Keeler echoed Bishop Solis, saying we should take the opportunity to “Be still, and know that I am God,” in the words of Psalm 46. He also reinforced my feeling of the need for a faith community: “We know that the spiritual journey is never only – purely – a solitary one; it is also a social one because you and I are creatures made for relationship. We are social and … we are affirmed and enriched by the presence of others as surely as we affirm and enrich others on our part.”

Fr. Keeler and the bishop made other points as well, and here is where the electronic version of the retreat shows its advantage: I can go back and listen to the videos, which are posted on the diocesan website, time and again as part of my Lenten practice, to delve deeper into their messages as I journey toward Easter.  

Marie Mischel is editor of the Intermountain Catholic. Reach her at marie@icatholic.org.