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‘It is not the correct thing … to begin the Lenten season by grumbling.’
Editor’s Note: Visit EWTN’s special website on Lentfor the current penitential rules and further background on the season.
I am always hunting through the past for interesting corners of Catholic life and practice. A few years ago, I found a book, published in 1891, called The Correct Thing for Catholics. It’s available online here.
The tone is arch, but of course that was the tone of public discourse at the time — watch The Gilded Age, and you’ve got it.
And yes, you read this and you might think, rules, rules, rules. Where’s my mature adult Christian freedom at?
You’d have a point, of course, but you might also have lived enough time on this earth to be so exhausted by the pressure to be spiritually creative that a few tried-and-true rules and regulations don’t seem that bad, really.
Yes, yes, we know what that can lead to. The dreaded specter of legalism, of course. But guess what? Anything can have negative consequences, even my Spirit-Led-Personal-Spiritual-Practice. Hard to believe, but true.
So let’s just all try to do the correct thing for Lent …
Shall we?
To resolve to observe all the regulations of the Church as far as one is able.
Continued below
www.ncregister.com
Editor’s Note: Visit EWTN’s special website on Lentfor the current penitential rules and further background on the season.
I am always hunting through the past for interesting corners of Catholic life and practice. A few years ago, I found a book, published in 1891, called The Correct Thing for Catholics. It’s available online here.
The tone is arch, but of course that was the tone of public discourse at the time — watch The Gilded Age, and you’ve got it.
And yes, you read this and you might think, rules, rules, rules. Where’s my mature adult Christian freedom at?
You’d have a point, of course, but you might also have lived enough time on this earth to be so exhausted by the pressure to be spiritually creative that a few tried-and-true rules and regulations don’t seem that bad, really.
Yes, yes, we know what that can lead to. The dreaded specter of legalism, of course. But guess what? Anything can have negative consequences, even my Spirit-Led-Personal-Spiritual-Practice. Hard to believe, but true.
So let’s just all try to do the correct thing for Lent …
Shall we?
It Is the Correct Thing
To begin the holy and penitential season of Lent by assisting at Mass and partaking of the blessed ashes on Ash Wednesday.To resolve to observe all the regulations of the Church as far as one is able.
Continued below
The Correct Thing for Catholics: 21 Things to Do (and 18 Things to Avoid) During Lent
‘It is not the correct thing … to begin the Lenten season by grumbling.’
