Greetings. Yes it is the end of another week. Where they go, I could not even begin to say.
Those of us who are old enough the “good old days” of the Church, where Friday was a day of fast, no meat, and if one could to attend Mass. Though those days are gone, it does not mean that we are not in need of doing some kind of penance during our week. It need not be on a Friday, it could be on a Wednesday.. But we are all. In need of some day during the week when we just say an extra prayer, do a little something for another, attend Mass, what ever you might be able to do in your busy schedule.
If we read the lives of some of the early Christians, we saw that many left the society they lived in to life alone where they could life a penetintial life. The more penance they performed, the “holier” they thought themselves to be. This in no way to say that these men and women were not holy in their own right. But that kind of life would not go today. We have a very different view on what penance is.
I was told in my early days of religious life, that to overdue penance was as bad as not doing any penance at all. In the 62 years of religious life, I have come to understand that doing without was one way, but a better way would be to DO for someone. True penance is sorrow for something that I have done. It is sorrow and I learn that there are areas in my life that are not perfect and that need to be addressed.
We all have done something that we know we should not have done. It is just human nature. But in recognizing the wrong we have done, is half the battle. Knowing we have done we open the door through which we are able to walk to a better, more perfect life.
One thing I have learned in hearing confessions over the years is that we need to NAME the sin. Once we have done that we have control over it, we know its name.
Maybe today we can just spend a few minutes to ask the Good Lord to give us better insight into our selves, that we might be able to recognize our shortcomings and begin to work on them.
Remember, when we face the Lord, He will not be asking how FAR we have been able to go on the path of holiness, but how HARD have we tried.,
Peace and All Good,
Fr. Vinnie, osf and theBros and Srs of the
Franciscan House of Prayer.
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