From gloom to bloom

THERE’S, of course, as aspect of gloom to Lent. That’s

understandable, since the season reminds us of our sinfulness, our

weaknesses and temptations, and the need to struggle, to be patient,

to suffer, etc.

    But it’s a gloom that leads us to the bloom of Easter, the suffering

that purifies and strengthens us, giving us another rebirth and making

us grow to Christian maturity where love and goodness prevail.

    We should look at things from a higher point of view, from a wider

perspective that gives due consideration to the inputs of faith and

the eternal truths, etc., to be able to get a better picture.

The victory of Christ’s resurrection, celebrated on Easter, gives full

meaning to the suffering of Christ’s cross that we are asked to share.

Our problem is the usual tendency to see things externally and

superficially only, and to give knee-jerk reactions to events. We fail

to connect the two.

    The road from gloom to bloom, from Lent to Easter, from darkness to

light, from death to life, has been built for us by Christ through his

words and deeds, through his whole redemptive life here on earth that

was filled with precious lessons for us.

    This road has been perfected, has been given the finishing touches

and polish with his passion, death and resurrection that comprise what

is now known as the Paschal or Easter mystery.

    It’s the mystery that summarizes the whole redemptive work of Christ

and is applied to us through the sacraments, especially the sacrament

of the Holy Eucharist. This is, of course, a truth of faith that we

accept not because we understand it, but more because it is taught to

us by Christ, who cannot deceive nor be deceived by us.

   

    This sacrament, seen under its three aspects as spiritual food (Holy

Communion), supreme sacrifice (Holy Mass), and divine presence

(Blessed Sacrament), makes this Paschal mystery present, and not only

remembered in the usual manner we understand by the word, remember.

    We need to work out our thinking, attitudes and feelings so as to

capture this wonderful reality that we often take for granted. That’s

why, we need to pray, meditate, study, develop the appropriate

virtues, fight against our weaknesses and temptations, etc.

    But one sacrament with its corresponding and underlying virtue that

is indispensable for this effort is the sacrament of penance or

reconciliation. It enables us to be born again, to regain our state of

grace after we have lost it through sin.

    The sacrament presumes and always requires the virtue of penance

which is none other than the abiding acknowledgement of our sinfulness

and the urge to go back to Christ by way of acts of penance, the

highest form of which is by availing of the sacrament of penance or

confession.

    Especially these days when the sense of sin is slowly being eroded by

all sorts of anti-Christian if not anti-human ideologies with their

corresponding lifestyles, we need to bring to the fore the importance

of both the virtue and the sacrament of penance.

    Of course, to recover the proper understanding and attitude toward

penance, we need to go back to Christ, to have faith, to be simple and

humble enough to realize that Christ is the fullness of the revelation

of God who is our creator and everything to us.

    Only through him would we know what is sin and what is not. Without

him, we will just be guided by our natural self that, as we already

know, is quite wounded and handicapped by sin itself. Its estimation

of what is good and evil is at best tentative and many times confused

if not wrong.

    To recover the proper understanding and attitude toward penance, we

need to heed the teaching of the Church that has been endowed by

Christ with the full authority to keep and transmit the deposit of

faith in its integrity infallibly.

    The virtue of penance also involves the need for self-denial,

restraint and moderation in the use of things, especially those that

give us the utmost comfort and pleasure, like food, drinks, fun, and

other sensual delights, especially the direct use of our human

sexuality.

    It is in this area that we should try to be most generous in

abstaining and fasting, because they go a long way in building up our

proper understanding of penance. Let’s remember what Christ said: “For

the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to

you.” (Lk 6,38)