The Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent is a succinct summing up of the whole Lenten season.
Escuchamos cómo Jesús fue guiado por el Espíritu Santo a vivir en el desierto sin comida durante cuarenta días. Emerge hambriento, listo para comenzar su misión, pero antes debe enfrentarse a Satanás, que le tienta para que convierta las piedras en pan, le lleva a lo alto del templo y le muestra todos los reinos de la tierra.
La historia destaca las tres marcas de la Cuaresma: El ayuno, la oración y la limosna.
To see these three Lenten actions through Elizabeth Ann Seton’s eyes, I gathered together some of her most-loved quotes. For her, fasting, prayer and almsgiving are not three separate exercises — they are one integrated act.
El AYUNO es la primera marca de la CuaresmaSe observa un ayuno estricto el Miércoles de Ceniza y el Viernes Santo, pero muchos católicos ofrecen una práctica de ayuno adicional renunciando a algo en Cuaresma como devoción a la oración y la penitencia.
“The gate of heaven is very low; only the humble can enter,” said Elizabeth Ann Seton.
Humildad is one of the first reasons for fasting. Fasting forces us to cut our selfishness down to size. True freedom is the ability to do what we truly know is best for us — but many of us are too committed to pleasing ourselves to do what’s best for us. Fasting gets us used to the idea that we are not so special.
“God is with us — and if sufferings abound in us, his Consolations also greatly abound, and far exceed all utterance,” wrote Mother Seton.
Aquí muestra otra razón para ayunar: Fe. These are words Mother Seton sent to her sister-in-law Rebecca, recounting her advice to her children while facing her husband’s illness. Fasting builds our faith that earthly pleasure is not the most important thing in our lives — because one day we will have to realize that earthly life is not the most important thing, either, as Seton had to tell her children. Our life in eternity is.
“My own troubles will teach me I hope how to comfort others,” Mother Seton said.
Servicio is the final reason for fasting. Persevering in suffering helps strengthen us so that we do not make our own comfort paramount, but instead, put others before our own selfishness. Fasting from something expensive — eating out, alcohol, or unnecessary shopping — can even give us the material resources to help others.
La ORACIÓN es la segunda marca de la Cuaresma.
La Iglesia recomienda aprovechar la Cuaresma para aprender el arte de conversar con Dios, añadiendo algo nuevo a nuestra rutina de oración.
“Let your chief study be to acquaint yourself with God because there is nothing greater than God, and because it is the only knowledge which can fill the Heart with a Peace and joy, which nothing can disturb,” was Mother Seton’s advice.
Paz is the first thing we get from prayer. When we look at life from the wrong perspective, it is filled with worry and anxiety. Think of it like taking a drive through the mountains. The shell around you, your car, dominates and limits your view. It’s only when you step outside the car — when you interact directly with God — that you can see how small your shell really is.
“Jesus is as a fire in the very center of our souls ever burning. Yet, we are cold because we do not stay by it,” Mother Seton said.
Urgencia es lo siguiente que obtenemos de la oración. Dios quiere tener una relación personal profunda con todas sus criaturas. Pero muchos le ignoran. Cuanto más aprendamos a dirigirnos a él, más querremos atraer a otros a la luz de su fuego.
“Does the life of our Jesus animate us? Do we indeed give him the true service of the heart without which whatever else we give has no Value?” asked Mother Seton.
Eficacia is the next thing we get from prayer. Not “efficiency,” mind you, but effectiveness. Prayer doesn’t make us more talented or successful, exactly, but it does increase the “effect” of what we do, because it gives it a supernatural value as we allow Christ to work through us rather than relying on our own efforts.
EL DAR DE ALMA es el tercer tema de la Cuaresma.
It is a Catholic custom to find something extra to do for others in Lent — giving money or time or both.
“The nearer a soul is truly united to God, the more its sensibilities are increased to every being of His Creation; much more to those whom it is bound to love by the tenderest and most endearing ties,” Mother Seton wrote.
Sensibilidad is the first thing we get from almsgiving. Prayer helps us see the needs around us with God’s eyes, and not look selfishly past them. Almsgiving puts that prayer into action. When we pray and act, together, we will see our loved ones and what they need in a whole new light.
“Take every day as a ring which you must engrave, adorn, and embellish with your actions, to be offered up in the evening at the altar of God,” Elizabeth Ann Seton advised.
Intencionalidad is the next thing we get from almsgiving. Once our spiritual goals improve from self-improvement to serving others, our day changes from “our time” to “time to serve.” But notice that you need all three to make this happen: Prayer to see your life as an instrument in God’s hand, fasting to have the self-discipline to serve Him, and almsgiving to put it all together.
Finally, “The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly to do it because it is his will,” said Mother Seton in her often-quoted advice.
Unión with God is the last fruit of almsgiving. It comes from fulfilling the two chief commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This brings prayer, fasting and almsgiving together into one.
TOM HOOPES, autor más reciente de El Rosario de San Juan Pablo II, es escritor residente en el Benedictine College de Kansas, donde imparte clases. Es anfitrión de La extraordinaria Story podcast sobre la vida de Cristo. Su libro Lo que dijo realmente el Papa Francisco ya está disponible en Audible. Antiguo reportero en la zona de Washington, D.C., fue secretario de prensa del Presidente del Comité de Medios y Arbitrios de la Cámara de Representantes de los Estados Unidos y pasó 10 años como editor del periódico National Catholic Register y de la revista Faith & Family. Su trabajo aparece con frecuencia en el Register, Aleteia y Catholic Digest. Vive en Atchison, Kansas, con su esposa, April, y tiene nueve hijos.
Imagen: La tentación en el desierto (1898), Briton Rivière
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