A Seminarian’s Lent
The Church Year is moving toward Lent . This is the season that in the Latin Missal is called Quadragesima, the forty days when the Church calls us in a special way to pray, fast and give alms. It is a special time for saying “no” to self and “yes” to God.
My college seminary years were spent with the Benedictines of St. Meinrad Archabbey in Southern Indiana. This was a foundation of monks from the ancient shrine in Switzerland call Maria Einsiedeln. This abbey holds the venerated image of one of the Black Madonnas that are scattered throughout Europe, and was one of the many Marian Shrines I visited during my years as a seminarian at the North American College in Rome.
St. Meinrad was headed by Archabbot Ignatius Esser, O.S.B., a regal figure who seemed to actually glide around the Monastery, the Oblate School, the College and the School of Theology, but a kind, gracious, no-nonsense person.
There was a custom that prior to Ash Wednesday, in keeping with the Benedictine way of life, all the people in the four divisions wrote out their Lenten resolutions. These were given to Archabbot Ignatius. There were hundreds of men in these four divisions. I was one of the skeptics who did not believe that Archabbot Ignatius would read them all.
When I submitted my three resolutions I wrote as one of the three, “ I will not complain unnecessarily about the food during Lent.” Our resolutions were returned on Fat Tuesday. I eagerly opened mine. The word unnecessarily was marked out. Above it was written in bold black ink: “Period!” The resolution then read, “I will not complain about the food during Lent. Period!”
Prayer, fasting and works of charity or good works are still part of Lent. The emphasis is the same: Turn from self to God. Turn from self-indulgence to helping others.
- Msgr. Thomas P. Hadden