Lent is a time for us to reflect on our relationship with God, repair those things that keep us from Him and turn back to Him if we have been away. Faith is the gift that allows us to trust in God and to follow His commandments as a sign of our love for Him. In her book, “Calls” from the Message of Fatima, which has been described as a “catechism of Fatima,” Sister Lucia gives us a pathway to meet God every day, but especially during penitential seasons.
Repent of habitual sins
In returning to God and His commandments, Sister Lucia reminds us: Our love must be self-sacrificing. To begin with, we must avoid whatever might cause us to sin grievously against God or our neighbor; in other words, we must not disobey God’s law in any grave matter. Then, we must also deny ourselves anything that might cause us to offend God or our neighbor in less serious matters, in other words by venial sin…The Kingdom of Heaven is won by those who deny themselves, doing battle with themselves to conquer their evil inclinations, the temptations of the world…in order to keep strictly to the path of justice, truth and love.
Forgive others as you have been forgiven
The Lord’s Prayer reminds us that we cannot obtain God’s pardon unless we ourselves first forgive our brothers and sisters. It follows that we must not harbor resentment, ill-will, dislike, and still less, a desire to avenge any offense, whether great or small, that one or other of our neighbors may have committed against us. Our forgiveness must be generous, complete and self-sacrificing, in the sense of overcoming ourselves. It will be necessary to grasp the reins of our own temper and keep a lid on the heat of our wounded self-love which, whether rightly or wrongly, feels bruised and irritated.
Practice self-denial for the sake of sinners
Our daily lives are filled with opportunities to offer sacrifices to God. At times it is the cross of our daily work; at other times the difficulties of life that we must accept with serenity, patience and resignation. Still other times, those humiliations and self-revelations that occur, when we must accept and acknowledge what is imperfect in us and amend ourselves with confidence in God’s loving help.
Here are five ways of self-denial that Sister Lucia says anyone can do to take up their cross every day and follow Jesus: It is our generosity in ordinary little things that are constantly happening; it is to make perfect the present moment”:
- Make time for prayer with faith and attention, avoiding distractions, praying respectfully, remembering that we are speaking to God; therefore, praying with confidence and love, knowing that He wants to help us. Our prayer must be humble and accompanied by a spirit of sacrifice. Many times it will be necessary to sacrifice a little of our time for relaxation for prayer, getting up earlier in order to go to church and pray, setting aside time before bed to pray the Rosary, turning off the radio or television in order to do so. It is the renunciation of our own likes and fancies that God requires of us.
- Offer God the sacrifice of some little act of self-denial in the matter of food, but not to the extent of impairing the physical strength we need in order to do our work. For example, to choose a fruit, a dessert, a drink that we don’t particularly like rather than one we do; to endure thirst for a while, to abstain from alcohol, to choose healthy foods over those not as good for us.
- The sacrifice that we can and must make in the matter of clothing: Putting up with a little cold or heat without complaining; dressing modestly without becoming enslaved to the latest fashion, bearing in mind that we are responsible for the sins that others commit because of us.
- Cheerfully enduring without complaint whatever little annoyances we may encounter in our day. Sometimes, it may be the company of someone disagreeable or irritating, an unpleasant word, an ironic smile, a look of disdain, a contradiction, or that we are passed over as of no account, forgotten, misunderstood, reproofed, rejected or treated with ingratitude.
- Exterior prayers and penances include the days of fast and abstinence imposed by the Church. Penances imposed on ourselves to suffer with Christ might be to pray in a spirit of penance with one’s arms outstretched in the form of a cross, or to pray prostrate with one’s forehead touching the ground, lowering ourselves before God Whom we have offended.
Making such little sacrifices enriches us with grace, strengthens us in faith and charity, ennobles us before God and our neighbor, and frees us from the temptation to egoism, covetousness, envy and self-indulgence.
Seek intimate communion with God
The Angel of Peace exhorted the three children of Fatima to “pray, pray very much,” reflecting the Gospel message of Jesus to “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Mt. 26, 41). Sister Lucia echoes this notion, “We know how weak we are, that we slip back and fall…We can only acquire the strength we need, the strength that comes to us from grace, when our soul meets with God in prayer.”
Expounding on the call to prayer, she writes: Today, I look upon this call as a pointer to the way marked out by God for His creatures since the beginning of creation. In fact, in both the Old and the New Testament, which contain the Word of God, we find the path God mapped out for humanity very clearly marked. Unfortunately, however, human beings have, on the whole, disregarded the end for which they were created. They ignore the existence of God their Creator, they do not know the holy name of God, whom they have never called Father, and they do not know the way they are to follow in order to be happy one day in their Father’s house.
Sister Lucia goes on to say that we must endeavor to reproduce in ourselves Jesus Christ, so that on the day of our death when our soul goes to meet the Father, He may see in us the features of Christ and welcome us as His children into His kingdom.
This shows our great need for drawing close to God in intimate communion. It is by prayer that we secure pardon for our own sins, the strength to persevere on the path of God’s will and the grace to resist the temptations of the world, the devil and the flesh.
There are many ways of meeting God in prayer. The most important is that you do so daily. Obviously, participating in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the greatest prayer we can offer the Father, and Eucharistic adoration is a powerful way to show God how much we want to be with Him. Aside from these opportunities outside of the home, Sister Lucia presents these forms of daily prayer:
Vocal prayer – Addressed to God in words, either those that well up spontaneously from the heart or through existing formulas: the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, the Creed, for example. Praying the Our Father is the most sublime form of vocal prayer, because Jesus Himself taught it to us, so we must pray it with devotion, confidence, humility and love.
Cultivate conversation with God
In addition to formula prayers, Sister Lucia reminds us that we can converse with God in simple ways all day long:
In carrying out our everyday tasks, we must endeavor to be aware of God’s presence: call to mind that God and our Angel Guardian are close to us, see what we are doing and in what frame of mind we are doing it. Knowing that God is present, it is enough to call Him to mind and from time to time say a few words to Him, whether of love – “I love you, Lord!” or of thanksgiving – “Thank you, Lord, for all your benefits,” or of petition, “Lord, help me to be faithful to You…”, or of praise, “I bless you, Lord, for your greatness…” This intimate and familiar converse with God transforms our work and our daily occupations into a true and abiding life of prayer, making us more pleasing to God and bringing down upon us extra special graces and blessings.”
Prayer of our work – Offering to God the performance of all our duties in our state in life, in humble submission to the will of God. In this way, our seemingly insignificant everyday occupations will be a prayer of praise, thanksgiving, repentance and petition. Throughout our day, we must endeavor to be aware of God’s presence and from time to time say a few words to Him, as noted above.
Mental prayer (meditation) – Placing ourselves in the presence of God in order to reflect on a Scripture passage, the mysteries of the Rosary, a virtue, Our Lady, the saints. Most spiritual directors recommend 15 minutes a day of mental prayer. Sister Lucia writes:
This prayer is very advantageous if we make it well. In order to do so, we have to talk to God about the subject on which we are meditating; look at ourselves in order to see what we lack in order to grow in the virtue needed, for example, an increase in faith, humility, charity or a spirit of sacrifice. All of this is accomplished in an intimate conversation with the Lord, discussing everything with Him, confident that it is He who will give us the light, grace and strength to remain faithful to the end.
The prayer of the Rosary – At Fatima, Our Lady specifically asked for this meditative prayer every day. Why did she ask for this? Sister Lucia believes it is because to pray the Rosary is something everybody can do no matter what their state in life, in common or private, in the home or Church, by oneself or with family, while driving or walking. She writes: After the liturgical prayer of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the prayer of the Rosary is the most pleasing prayer we can offer to God, and one which is most advantageous to our souls. It places us in contact with God through mental prayer – by meditating on the life of Christ – and it imitates how Mary communed with God, by “keeping all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” This kind of regular practice of mental prayer can lead us to the prayer of contemplation.
Prayer of contemplation – This consists of an even closer intimacy with God in which those practicing it enter more deeply into the presence of God within them, abandoning themselves to the work of the grace, light and love of God within them.
Sister Lucia writes: God can certainly grant this grace to a person without any effort on the person’s part, but ordinarily the Lord waits for the soul to reach this point by being faithful to the paths of vocal and mental prayer, because it is by this way that the soul is purified and lets go of the things of earth in order to entrust itself to God alone.
In conclusion, prayer is necessary for all and we must all pray, whether our prayer is vocal, mental or contemplative. As Jesus told us, without Him we can do nothing. Therefore, we can only acquire the strength we need, the strength that comes to us from grace, when our soul meets with God in prayer.
May your Lenten journey draw you closer to God for the sake of His kingdom and for those souls who have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them.
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Barb Ernster is the National Coordinator/Communications Manager/Editor for the World Apostolate of Fatima USA.
