Return to The Reign of Mary No. 179

The Reign of Mary

No. 179: Letter from the Editor

March 17, 2021
St. Patrick

Dear friends in Our Lady,

Praised be Jesus and Mary. Each year, as Lent rolls around, many of us are not eager to begin penitential practices. Yet, if we are honest about it, we know that penance is good for the soul, and that we need to perform penances. Especially during Lent, we recall the words of Our Lord: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke, 13:3).

There are many different kinds of penance, which can be categorized under the headings of prayer, fasting and almsdeeds. Really, anything that is a sacrifice to our human nature — which is always seeking comfort — is a good penance. There are many sacrifices we can perform which will not, in any way, harm our health. Simple things (such as performing a task we don’t enjoy doing and which we have been putting off) can be performed by anyone and are greatly pleasing to God. Each person, then, can find some penitential practices that will help him make a good Lent.

In our penitential practices we must avoid the extremes of trying to do too much, while on the other hand rejecting a selfish delicacy which always seeks to avoid the least sacrifice. Let us also remember the importance of performing our sacrifices for the right intention — the love of God. Meditation on the Passion of Christ will also help us to be generous in sacrificing for the love of Our Lord. Let us also meditate during Lent on the sorrows of Our Blessed Mother, who was utterly sinless and yet suffered such keen sorrow for our benefit.

Penance has many advantages. It helps us to atone for the temporal punishment for our sins, lest we spend many years doing so in purgatory; it increases the value of our prayer and helps us to pray better; it earns merit and reward in heaven; it earns graces for the conversion of sinners and for all our intentions; it helps us to grow in the love of Our Lord, Who suffered so much for us, etc. But perhaps one of the best advantages of penance is that it strengthens our will. Our problem, when it comes to temptation, is not that we don’t know what is right. Our problem is that we fall into sin through the weakness of our fallen human nature. Penance helps us to say NO to sin and YES to God’s holy will.

Also, during Lent the value of our personal penances is augmented by the fact that, as members of the Mystical Body of Christ, we are performing penance in union with our fellow Catholics all over the world. Thus the entire Mystical Body is crying out to God, “Spare, O Lord, spare Thy people.” So let us all resolve to make a good Lent. Our Easter joy will be proportionate to how we have spent Lent, which is truly a time of great grace.

Our time in this world is really very short. Let us use it to serve God in this life, that we might be happy with Him forever in the next. And may you all have a most blessed Easter, in union with our Blessed Mother, whose sorrow at the Passion of her Son was turned into joy.

In the service of Jesus and Mary,
Fr. Benedict Hughes, CMRI (Email)

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