Return to me with your Whole Heart February 21

Ash Wednesday - February 21, 2007

by Diane Bayne

Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart,

with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;

Rend your hearts, not your garments,

and return to the Lord, your God.

For gracious and merciful is he,

slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment. Joel 2: 12-14

Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 2Corinthians 6:2

Jesus said to his disciples: "Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. . . When you give your alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. Matthew 6: 1-6

And so, with a plethora of instructions, we begin Lent: "Return to me with your whole heart. . . with fasting, and weeping, and mourning. Rend your hearts, not your garments." Do not wait, for "now is the acceptable time." When you give alms, pray, or fast, do it in secret–and "your Father, who sees what is hidden, will repay you."

We've heard all this so many times before that perhaps it no longer holds much meaning for us. And so, as they say in Bridge, it may be helpful if we "review the bidding." Unpleasant as it may be to recall, we have all inherited a corrupt human nature, a nature with a tendency to turn toward self instead of toward God. Of this tendency, Francis de Sales says, "It will only die a quarter of an hour after we do."

Lent is a wake-up call to remind us of this state of affairs and to offer us a special time of grace to grow closer to Christ.

Piety

To grow closer to the Lord, St. John of the Cross, a sixteenth century Spanish mystic, advises not that we crush our natural, human desires, but rather that we allow them to be transformed. In Book One of The Ascent of Mt. Carmel, John instructs us to focus on Christ and imitate him in all things. As our love and longing for Christ grow, that desire transforms all other yearnings. John would have us realize that the value of self-denial depends on our motive. If we undertake a Lenten program of self-improvement to conquer our will and make us a better person, it has little lasting effect, except to bolster our pride if we are successful. If, on the other hand, our Lenten program is a natural response to our desire to imitate Christ and to love Him above all else, including ourselves, then the love which motivates it gives it value and transforms us.

Spend a quiet time meditating on St. John's ideas. How can you incorporate them into your Lenten program?

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/022107.shtml

The good news is that a variety of ways are available to help us in this transformation process. In his book Prayer and Temperament, Msgr. Chester Michael explores spiritualities that have proven helpful for various Meyers-Briggs temperaments. He writes that people with "SJ" temperaments often choose the Ignatian exercises for spiritual growth, whereas those with the more contemplatively inclined "NF" types prefer Centering Prayer and the spiritualities of the Trappists, Cistercians, and Carmelites. People with SP types find Franciscan spirituality suits their love of creation, while those with "NT" types appreciate the spirituality of St. Thomas Acquinas. (For more on personality types, see http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/)

If you have not already done so, identify your temperament and the spirituality that will best help you grow in your love for Christ.

Action

Instead of a Lenten regimen focused on developing self-discipline and greater will power, nourish your love for Jesus by reading the Gospels and learning to know Him.

Rembember, the value of your Lenten resolutions lies not in what you do but in the love with which you do then; they can only be effective if they are undertaken in the light of Jesus' presence, out of love, not as ends in themselves.