Even before I became Catholic I learned about choosing certain penitential practices during Lent. Each year I exclude drinking alcohol, snacking, and eating sweets. These practices are good for me but I have learned even more from the disciplines I have added. For example, one year I decided that I would pray the rosary every day in Lent. I knew about this prayer and had occasionally prayed it but forty days of praying the rosary changed my whole attitude toward it. During other Lents I have added additional spiritual reading or prayed more of the Liturgy of the Hours. Last year I tried to go throughout Lent without once saying a bad word about another human being. That was a real challenge. This year my wife and I are saying Night Prayer together.
All of these practices are good but Hosea reminds me not to forget what the season of Lent is really about. Penitential practices are one thing. Penance, repentance, returning to God is something else. The practices are there to draw us toward repentance and they can be a way of demonstrating the change of thinking required to turn back to God but Hosea’s words are a warning to us all. We need Lent because, like Israel, we frequently collapse spiritually because of our guilt. Lent is a time to cast ourselves upon a loving God. If I have spent a good part of the year trusting in the work of my hands, my little gods, then Lent reminds me that there is only one God and that what God wants from me is me. That includes trusting him to bear fruit in my life. I cling to things because I think that they will bring fulfillment and joy when only God can satisfy the hungry soul.
Today’s psalm reminds me of the story of the Book of Exodus. Christians are familiar with the 10 Commandments but how many have thought about the narrative that precedes them? Exodus 19 and even the beginning of chapter 20 where the commandments are listed make it clear that the commandments come after the saving acts of God on behalf of his people. God does not just appear and say, as in the psalm, “I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.” No, he relieves burdens, frees shackled hands, rescues people in distress, and brings his people out of slavery. Only then does he say, Listen to me. How could a grateful people do otherwise?
Finally, Lent is about growing in our love for God and our neighbor. Jesus teaches that these are the greatest of the commandments. To love is worth more than all of the offerings, sacrifices, and penitential practices that we could do for the next thousand years. But Jesus is not speaking of a cheap love. It is a love with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. This is the life lived in the kingdom of God. This is truly Lent.
There is a joke among the Eastern Orthodox believers that you can always tell who the new converts are; they are the ones looking forward to Lent. It is true that the Orthodox disciplines during Lent are a good deal more stringent than the Catholic ones but I guess I am still one of those converts. Lent includes discipline, penance, and self-denial but it is primarily a season that draws me closer to God. It is a time of great joy.
George Butterfield
I served as the Legal Reference Librarian at the Creighton University Law School Library from August, 2007, until August of 2017. I also taught Legal Research to first year law students and Advanced Legal Research to second and third year law students. In August of 2017 I took the position of Director of Evangelization and Catechesis for the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, and served in that capacity until Covid hit and the church staff was cut in half. Recently I took a position with the St. Gerald Catholic Church in Omaha, Nebraska, and my wife and I moved back to the Omaha suburb of Papillion.
My wife, Deb, and I have been married since 1970. She grew up in Oklahoma City and I migrated south from southwestern Pennsylvania. God has blessed us with three children, four living grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. I spent the first thirty years of our marriage as a minister so our family moved a lot. We have lived in several states, including Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, and California.
I enjoy walking, reading, listening to audio books, playing with my Pekingnese, Max, my Maltese-Schnauzer, Blaise, and seeing my grandkids grow up. I am a Catholic deacon, having been ordained by Archbishop George Lucas on May 5, 2012.
There is nothing to compare with reflecting on scripture. I feel privileged to participate in these daily reflections. Although we don’t know whether or not St. Francis ever said it, one idea associated with him is that we preach the gospel always and, when necessary, use words. May these reflections be gospel words, good news, of our gracious Lord Jesus Christ.
