We are at the halfway point in Lent. Below is a short note written by a priest in Rome to some seminarians that I thought could give us all some good encouragement.
Gentlemen,
Today marks the halfway point between Ash Wednesday and the Triduum in the Lenten season. Often times by this point in our Lenten journey the disciplines we take upon ourselves can begin to fade a bit. And so my encouragement for you is to “agere contra,” to act against this tendency.
As challenging as some particular Lenten discipline may be, I would encourage you to go against the tendency to slacken a bit, and in fact, to add to your original discipline some additional prayer, penance or almsgiving that might stand up to “the enemy of human nature” in this last half of the Lenten season.
So what if perhaps you have not been faithful to your original intentions? Perhaps you have yet to even undertake a serious Lenten discipline. In either case, simply begin today. And if you feel like you have been “on again – off again” in your observance of Lent, act against the tendency to “give up,” and if anything add to your original discipline. Even some slight addition resists the influences of the evil one to discourage you and shows the Lord your desire for a fuller life in Christ.
Be assured of my prayers for you as you engage yourself even more fully in the invitation of the Lord from the prophet Joel that we heard on Ash Wednesday, as he said, “return to me with your whole heart….”
In Christ our Hope,
Fr. Hanefeldt
