Asceticism and Reparation

ASCETICISM & REPARATION

1)   First of all, I am preaching to myself, not my greatest attribute.

2)   This talk is about asceticism and reparation, particularly to the Immaculate Heart. I would like to begin, as in all things, to show the roots of this is in Scripture.

3 Pillars of Lent

(PRAYER) -MATTHEW 6:5-8—“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him”.

(FASTING)- MATTHEW 6:16-18—“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you”.

(ALMSGIVING)-MATTHEW 6:2-4—“Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in  the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their own reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you”.

(IMMACULATE & SORROWFUL HEART)-Luke 2: 34-35: “34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too”.

ASCETICISM

From an article by Jeff Arrowood, La Crosse Wisconsin:

    “Asceticism? Isn’t that like wearing hair shirts and whipping and punishing yourself? Does the church still teach that?” One thinks of the ads for the Da Vinci Code movies a few years ago, with the “Opus Dei monk” (no such thing).

            “Asceticism means self-sacrifice, denying yourself physical pleasures and conveniences even when you don’t need to. Christians don’t practice this because we see physical goods as evil”, rather we value the Creator more than them. “Like all spiritual practices, asceticism should be motivated by love”.

            In the early church, when you became a Christian, you were immediately in danger of being martyred, due to Roman persecution. You had to be willing to sacrifice everything. Then in 313 AD, Constantine and others signed the Edict of Milan, which stopped the persecutions. Gradually, many Christians became lax in their faith. Some heroic Christians responded to this by going out into the desert, living in isolation, fasting, and prayer. These came to be known as the Desert Fathers and Mothers, and this movement led to monasticism as we know it today—the first monks!

            While it is true that asceticism was abused at times in history, here are 5 good reasons (per Arrowood) to take it back up, especially during Lent.

1)   Asceticism combats habitual sin (addictions). It’s like building your spiritual muscles against addictions to porn, food, comfort, etc.

2)   Asceticism builds the virtue of temperance, which balances our desires for physical goods. When they are out of balance, we need to reset this balance with self-denial.

3)   “Asceticism protects you against the excesses of the culture. We live in a very lax, hedonistic culture. Asceticism sets our heart on the greater goods”, that God will provide for us.

4)   Asceticism moves our heart away from selfishness. We live in a world where our every whim is satisfied at the push of a button. Self-sacrifice prevents this comfortable lifestyle from sinking into our hearts.

5)   Asceticism can be an act of love. Like the Desert monks, we can offer our self-sacrifice as a token of giving our whole lives to Jesus. I can be an act of love for God, and we can also offer our voluntary suffering for the salvation of souls (Colossians 1:24). This ties in to my second half of the topic, reparation, which we will look at in a second.

From the Catechism:  CCC2340: “Whoever wants to remain faithful to his baptismal promises and resist temptations will want to adopt the means for doing so: self-knowledge, practice of an ascesis adapted to the situations that confront him, obedience to God’s commandments, exercise of the moral virtues, and fidelity to prayer”.

CCC2015: “The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes.

Taking the basis of my reflections on Reparation from a book on Fatima by Sr. Angela de Fatima Coelho.

REPARATION

            The apparitions of Fatima emphasized “reparation” (to God), in which we participate in the history of salvation, cooperating with God’s saving work and bringing peace to the world.

            In the 2nd apparition, the Angel told the children: “Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended and in supplication for the conversion of sinners”.

In the May apparition, the Virgin asks the children, “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners”? In this case, reparation means an offering of one’s whole life.

In the July apparition, the Virgin gave the children a prayer to pray whenever they made sacrifices” “O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary” (that I offer this up).

So, what IS reparation...The word reparation means to “restore” or “rebuild”, or to “renew”. In the Fatima apparitions, it means to repair or rebuild but also to console. As the angel told the children, “Repair (sinner’s) crimes and console your God”.

She quotes Pope Francis: “The path to Easter demands that we renew our faces and our hearts as Christians through repentance, conversion, and forgiveness, so as to live fully the abundant grace of the Paschal mystery”.

In contrast with the post-modern world, which exalts individuality and the self over everything else, Our Lady urges us to step out of ourselves, to think of others, and to feel responsible for them. Like Sr. Lucia explained, “I myself think that what purifies us is love, the fire of divine Love, communicated by God to souls”. So, reparation is first and foremost about love.

To make reparation, then, is to console God and the Immaculate Heart of Mary by spending time with them. Each time I do the First Saturday devotion (I will review later), or pray the Rosary and offer sacrifices in reparation, I am doing it in union with the paschal mystery (Jesus’s death through His ascension), in union with “the” moment of reparation in our history of salvation.

In an apparition to Sr. Lucia in 1925, the Child Jesus said: “Have compassion on your most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them”.

So Our Lady had asked the children for the 5 first Saturdays as reparation. For the first Saturday on 5 consecutive months we should:

1)   Pray 5 decades of the Rosary

2)   Meditate on the Mysteries of the rosary for 15 minutes

3)   Go to confession (ok to do this within a week or so, so long as your intention is reparation).

4)   Receive communion.

St. Maximilian Kolbe, my favorite Saint, sums up this attitude we should have, as Catholic Christians:

“Let us remember that Love lives through sacrifice and is nourished by giving. Let’s remember that not everything which is good and beautiful pertains to genuine, essential love. Because even without those other things love can be present. Indeed, a perfected love. Without sacrifice, there is no love. Sacrifice the senses, taste, hearing, and above all the mind and will in Holy Obedience. I wish for you and for myself the best appreciation of sacrifice, which is the unconditional willingness to sacrifice”.

Amen, so be it!