Since I was in third grade, the Season of Lent has played a part in my life. This annual observance was marked by special meals, special devotions, practices of mortification and the expectation of Easter.
Prior to Ash Wednesday, my father would drive out to Rice Street to the Pioneer Sausage Company and there he would buy a foot long hard salami. This salami was hung from the light fixture in the kitchen and served as an olfactory announcement that Lent was a time to abstain. At noon on Holy Saturday (in those days Lent ended at noon on Holy Saturday), he would climb on a kitchen chair with the butcher knife in his hand and with great drama and solemnity, he would cut the salami free. We would break the Lenten fast with salami sandwiches.
Fridays were meatless, and if truth be known, some of the most creative suppers were prepared.
Television watching was rationed and candy was forbidden until the Easter basket appeared.
In the 1950’s, Lent meant “giving up” something. It was only in my college years that I learned that Lent was a time for doing something; doing the works of mercy — spiritual and corporal. It was also a time to enrich one’s spirit; to read literature and listen to music that would lift one’s mind and heart.
In his diary, Pope John XXIII writes that for the Season of Lent in 1960, his plan was to listen to the nine symphonies of Beethoven.
Lent is a time of renewal for the whole person. It is a time to cleanse whatever it is that keeps me from a strong life of discipleship; it also is a time to undertake works of charity as well as a time to learn new things.
Lent is the springtime of the soul.
Fr. Steve Adrian
Photo by Luka Savcic on Unsplash
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