Dear Oblates, Candidates, and Inquirers,

      Ash Wednesday, February 21, marks the beginning of Lent for 2007. In St. Benedict’s time, Lent was the season of preparation for baptism at Easter. All Christians prepared themselves for Easter. Thus, Lent developed into a time of spiritual renewal for the whole Church. The word “Lent” comes from the Anglo-Saxon “Lencten,” meaning spring. Lent is not an end in itself; it exists to lead to the paschal feast. We understand it rightly only in the light of Easter. Lent is the great paschal retreat of the Church. The twofold character of Lent is to recall or prepare for Baptism and, by penance, to dispose the faithful to more diligently hear the word of God and devote themselves to prayer.   In Chapter 49 of his Rule, Benedict outlines several practices for Lent, which he says ought to be continuous for monks. However, he acknowledges our weakness and urges us to keep the practices at least during the days of Lent. The practices he suggests are to keep the manner of life most pure, wash away the negligences of other times, refuse to indulge in evil habits, and devote ourselves to prayer, to reading, to compunction of heart, and to self-denial. Further, we are to add to the usual measure of our service by way of private prayer and abstinence from food or drink, deny ourselves some food, drink, sleep, and needless talking and idle jesting. In Chapter 48, Benedict suggests that during the days of Lent there should be more time for reading and that each monk is to receive a book from the library and read the whole of it straight through.  

    Over and above the regular corporal mortifications, Benedict adds a properly spiritual effort of reading and contrition of heart. For Benedict, we must offer penance to God with joyful longing for holy Easter. In order to avoid pride, we make known to the Abbot or Prioress the practices we take up for Lent. The Abbot or Prioress blesses our efforts of spiritual renewal.

    We here at Our Lady of Grace Monastery practice Lent as outlined in the Rule. We each write out the good works we intend to do during Lent and present them along with the book we will read to the Prioress, who blesses us on Ash Wednesday. The blessing is a sign of God’s presence with us on the journey of renewal during Lent.

    I invite you to take time to reflect on what you need to do during this Lent to renew yourself spiritually in preparation for Easter. I encourage you to choose a special book to use for Lectio during Lent. If you need a good book, there are plenty to choose from in either the Oblate Library or Monastic Library. An alternative is to choose a book of the Bible to read during Lent, taking time to read it slowly and reflectively.

    As we continue to reflect on Chapter 4 of the Rule during our open meetings, we find very practical tools for practicing the spiritual life during Lent and throughout the year. I hope you can join us for the retreat weekend of March 16-18 and our next open meeting on March 18.  Look for more information about the retreat elsewhere in this newsletter.

Blessings on your Lent,

Sr. Antoinette Purcell, OSB

Director of Oblates