Lent | Thirst and hunger | George Weigel
ash ash Wednesday
Hello friends, and welcome to Issue #13 of Peregrino! Ash Wednesday edition. Happy Lent! I hope your fast is going well and you get your ash in Church today. Let’s jump right into it.
Lent
Chapter 49 of the rule of St. Benedict says, “the life of a monk ought to be a continuous Lent…let each one deny himself some food, drink, sleep, needless talking, and idle jesting, and look forward to holy Easter with joy and spiritual longing.”
The thought of a continuous Lent can sound daunting to some. However, if we consider it long enough, St. Benedict is unto something. Of course, most of us aren’t called to be monks, but I think much wisdom can be distilled from the monastic tradition.
I believe we can live a continuous Lent if we focus on the joy of Easter. Lent is a period of purification. Of going deeper. I have had lenten seasons where I have grown spiritually while my gut has shrunk, which is nice. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Imagine how good that thing you give up for Lent will taste or feel on Easter Sunday.
Do your prayer, fasting, and almsgiving not because Holy Mother Church says so but because you want to love God more perfectly. Pray the via crucis on Fridays to remind yourself of the price paid for our sins. Abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent. Do all these things out of love.
Let us also grow in spiritual longing. Jesus thirsts for us; let’s reciprocate the sentiment. The thing that always gets me during Lent is seeing all statues and paintings covered before Easter Sunday. The heaviness of Good Friday, the anticipation of Holy Saturday before the vigil. It all comes to a climax on Easter Sunday.
This year I want to live the Easter feast more intentionally and then attempt to live a continuous Lent. In strength training, it is said that if you’re not progressing, you are regressing. I believe the same thing happens in the spiritual realm. We risk losing our gains if we relax or drop the practices that lead to spiritual growth.
Thirst and hunger
I take water and food for granted all the time. I open the faucet, and water comes out. I open the fridge or the pantry, and I can find something to eat. It was not so for the Israelites. Interestingly, these two basic needs are a source of contention in three chapters of the book of Exodus.
You are between a rock and a hard place. Your enemy on one side and the sea on the other. Then Moses parts the Red Sea’s waters, and the ocean’s bottom becomes dry land. (Exodus 14:10-31).
Imagine the adrenaline rush of walking between two water walls, being chased by Pharaoh’s chariots. You are probably towing your family and all of your belongings. Suddenly, the water closes again, and your enemy is at the bottom of the Red Sea. You bust out the tambourines and dance (Exodus 15:1-21).
Once the party is over, it is time to work. You start walking. You walk for three days straight without water. You grumble. You get to a place that has water, but it tastes bitter. Moses throws a piece of wood in the water, and it becomes fresh. You drink. Eventually, you get to Elim and camp next to twelve water springs (Exodus 15:22-27).
A month and a half after leaving Egypt, you say stuff like this to Moses: “If only we had died at the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our kettles of meat and ate our fill of bread! But you have led us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of famine!” (Exodus 16:1-3)
God gives you quails and manna. You see the glory of the Lord appear in a cloud. You are to gather an omer of manna per person per day. Don’t gather more than that. You don’t listen. Whatever extra you collect becomes foul and breeds worms. On the sixth day, you are to gather double, and on the seventh day, rest. However, you try to find manna during the Sabbath (Exodus 16:4-36).
You arrive at Rephidim. You’re thirsty. You grumble against Moses, saying, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? To have us die of thirst with our children and our livestock?” Moses cries out to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? A little more, and they will stone me!” Moses strikes the rock. Water flows. You drink. (Exodus 17:1-7)
Does this sound familiar? It does for me. I grumbled because I was single. God gave me a wife. I praised the Lord. I grumbled because we didn’t have kids right away. God gave us children. I praised God. I grumble because selfless love requires me to leave my comfort zone. God gives me grace. I grow in temperance. Concupiscence has entered the chat. I grumble because I need to go to confession. God gives me grace again. This cycle repeats as needed.
I need to buy a tambourine.
George Weigel
This is my last Phoenix Men’s conference story, I promise. If you missed the first two, I wrote about Fr. Larry Richards and Dr. Tim Gray in past issues. George Weigel was also a speaker at this conference, and he talked about Australian Cardinal George Pell, who died on January 10th of this year.
I didn’t know much about Cardinal Pell. But then, I found out how eloquent he was. Just look at this clip where he debates Richard Dawkins. The editing is fantastic too.
He also spent 13 months in jail, mostly in solitary confinement, until an Australian appeals court ruling in 2020 quashed convictions that Pell sexually assaulted two choir boys in the 1990s. While in jail, he wrote three Prison Journals, which I eventually would like to read. According to Weigel, the last book Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI read before he passed was the first volume of Cardinal Pell’s prison journals.
George Weigel has written over two dozen books, one of which Diana and I like. “Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II” is an international bestseller, and Diana happened to have a paperback copy of the book. At the same time, I listened to the audiobook version. I took Diana’s copy of the book to the conference, and during the lunch break, I waited my turn to meet Mr. Weigel at the table where he was promoting his most recent book.
When it was finally my turn, I asked him if he would autograph Diana’s book. He mentioned how the book was now rare since it was from one of the earlier editions. I told him I had listened to the audiobook version. He replied that the audiobook is only thirteen percent of the book. Finally, he dedicated the book to Diana, saying she got the best part. I felt duped. I opened Audible on my phone and confirmed what I had suspected…I bought an abridged version. The abridged audiobook is nine hours long. That means that the whole book would be about seventy hours long. Ten hours longer than Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables in audiobook format. I know because I have also listened to that one; it took me five months of commutes to finish it.
One day I’ll read the now-autographed copy of Witness to Hope. So many books and so little time.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading. I have some questions for you:
What are you giving up for Lent?
What are you reading during the Lenten season?
What’s your favorite thing about Lent? Fish fry? Jinx.
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See you next week.
-W
I read “the dolores passion of our Lord Jesus Chist.” By blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. In The movie “the passion of the Christ” by Mel Gibson, many of the scenes were based off her visions recorded in this book.
It was the perfect book for Lent.