‘Prayer and penance’ Fr David Watt

 

‘Prayer and penance’      Fr David Watt 

This of course is Our Lady’s message in its essence.  Here I will not attempt a comprehensive coverage, but merely make a few points which, if not new, will hopefully bear repetition. 

 

Let us start with penance; seemingly the element which is most off-putting.  However, like many other things, the difficulty is more in the decision to begin.  The devil exaggerates this difficulty, and also lies by saying that if we go down that path, our life will be miserable.  Whereas if we read the lives of the Saints, we are struck by the fact that, though marvellous in their penance, they were even more marvellous in their joy. 

 

Relevant also is the saying of St Thomas More:  ‘Verily I believe many a man buys Hell with so much trouble he might have Heaven for less than one half’.  See for example the sacrifices made in the effort to become rich, eg burning the candle at both ends.  Of course, the possession of riches is not per se incompatible with salvation; however we know from the Gospel that the way to Life is narrow, and that having wealth merely exacerbates the difficulty. 

 

One martyr of the Early Church was invited to abjure his Way which, the judge said, was avowedly narrow.  The martyr replied ‘It is true; the way to Life is narrow; however, persevering in that path it becomes broader’.   

 

To squeeze through the narrow gate, we need to lose weight!  The most time-honoured of corporal mortifications is of course fasting.  At 58, I am now in my last year of subjection to Church Law on this point.  In recent centuries Church legislation on fasting and corporal austerities has become more and more lenient.  However, Paenitemini (St Paul VI) and other documents are saying, effectively, not that we should do less penance, but that we should freely undertake penances not required of us by Canon Law.  (One crucial example is, of course, offering up the difficulties encountered in our state of life.) 

 

Having said that, doing what is required is a good start!  For example, here in Australia many Catholics do not know – because we priests are not telling them – that every Friday, not just in Lent but the whole year – which does not coincide with a Solemnity, we are bound either to the traditional abstinence, or to substitute a good work of our choice. 

 

Every act of penance, however minor, has its value, and of course fasting, being harder than abstinence, has more weight for the salvation of souls. Please God, if we have the physical strength, we will continue fasting even when exempted by Church Law; cf. Lk 2:37.  I remember hearing a priest relate how, after unsuccessfully attempting an exorcism, he consulted an experienced exorcist, who said his fasting was only one-seventh of what was required. 

 

In this connection, the traditional rendering of Mt 17:20 and Mk 9:28 is ‘This kind [of devil] is not driven out except by prayer and fasting’.  Lamentably, in the Jerusalem Bible Mass-readings, the reference to fasting is eliminated, emasculating Our Lord’s words.  He is made to say, simply, ‘This kind of demon is not driven out except by prayer’.  As one international Marian speaker pointed out, the disciples were praying already! 

 

I also remember that another Marian priest, very senior, and a leader in the pro-life movement, conducted a post-mortem after the West Australian Parliament legalized abortion in 1998.  He asked ‘What did we do wrong?  If I had to make a choice, I would say we did not do enough fasting’. 

 

Crucial as I believe fasting to be, some are not capable of it, for reasons of health.  It would be exceedingly rare, however, for someone to be incapable of any bodily mortification whatsoever.  Almost invariably, there is something we can do, eg eat less of what we like; more of what we like less, and so forth. 

 

Another traditional form of penance is almsgiving, and once again, even the slightest act is not without its value in God’s eyes.  Nevertheless, for almsgiving to be penance, in the full sense of the word, we must ‘give till it hurts’, in the phrase of St Teresa of Calcutta.  That is, there must be something I want to do for myself, but for which I now lack the money, because of my almsgiving.  

 

On a personal note, I do not give to any cause, however worthy, which might be supported also by an atheist.  Not having much money to begin with, I take the view that any dollar I give to such a cause, is a dollar I don’t have to contribute towards Catholic charities, which of course will never be supported by the atheist.  And among the Catholic causes I tend to select those which are less well known.  I say this just for people’s interest; not to suggest that everyone should be a clone of me. 

 

The Tradition of the Church, while ascribing great importance to almsgiving and bodily austerities, is even more insistent on the need for interior mortification.  ‘Obedience is better than sacrifice’ (1 Sam. 15:22).  Hopefully each of us is under formal obedience to a spiritual director to whom we submit our proposed penances.  If not, we can ask a friend to assume this role ad hoc, at least informally, and without necessarily using the term ‘spiritual director’.  For instance we can ask him ‘This is what I am thinking of doing for Lent.  What do you think?’  If he says ‘I think that’s too much for you’, then acquiescing in his wishes – even without his actually issuing an order - is probably more pleasing to Our Lady than insisting on our own way. 

 

The same principle of abjuring self-will can be applied more generally.  So often, we are caught in the crossfire of our own wishes – left to ourselves – and what others want us to do.  We can resolve this by putting ourselves last, every time.  That is, so long as what others propose is not actually sinful, we always do what they want, rather than what we would do left to our own devices. In this way, everyone becomes our ad hoc quasi spiritual director. 

 

This technique will work when there is nothing more in play than our own pleasure, but not when there is conflict between our would-be spiritual directors.  For instance, what if attending daily Mass throughout the year, though difficult, is possible, and a friend says ’I think that’s too much for you, with all your commitments – full-time work and so forth’.  We can then oppose the opinion of another friend – Holy Mother Church – who encourages the daily receiving of the Eucharist; cf. eg The Catechism of the Catholic Church,  no. 1389.  And if, because of the fuel bill racked up by daily Mass, we are able to do less almsgiving, we should be at peace; the attending of Mass is the greatest alms we can offer, to ourselves, to the Church, and to the world. 

 

On this point, I have been privileged to know a couple which, though not at all wealthy, and both having to work full-time, has had the habit of daily Mass for many years.  On one occasion, the wife was to go on a parish pilgrimage, while the husband was to be on a fortnight’s cruise with some of the children.  He booked the cruise about 8 months in advance and, anticipating there would be no Mass on the ship, “banked” about 17 extra Masses during the months leading up to the cruise (under canon 917  he was entitled to receive Communion twice in one day).  But the best is yet to come.  Whereas one would be very blessed even to have Sunday Mass on a cruise, as it turned out, on this particular ship there was daily Mass, so he did not have to spend his Mass-credits!  I always encourage spiritual miserliness.  We consider the financial cost of a holiday, but how many, like this gentleman, consider the spiritual cost? 

 

After Mass – and, wherever possible, daily Mass – the most recommendable prayer for all and sundry, in accordance with Our Lady’s requests, is of course the daily Rosary.  (Priests are obliged to the daily Office, but this is not an obligation for the laity.)  She calls us to prayer and penance, and often it is possible to fulfil the two requests in a single act.  There seems to be a particular difficulty in persevering with the Rosary, which I can only attribute to the devil’s hatred for Our Lady.  Of course, he would rather we not pray at all, but if he cannot achieve that, he would prefer we pray in some other way, because then at least we are not fulfilling Her requests. 

 

And indeed, because of the difficulties with the Rosary – especially distractions – many have abandoned it for seemingly easier forms of prayer.  I always tell everyone that a distraction, if not voluntary, does not detract from the value of the prayer and may even enhance it.  Even if the primary agent of the distraction is the devil, nothing happens outside God’s loving Providence, which permits the distraction – as the Council of Trent says in another context – ad agonem; for the struggle.  If the distraction is resisted this adds to the merit of the prayer. 

  

For myself, counting the Seven Sorrows as one, my daily commitment is four Rosaries, and five on Fridays.  And I must confess that on rising I do not jump for joy at the thought of all the Rosaries I must fit in that day.  Furthermore, I often have more of a sense of accomplishment in doing something else, than in completing a Rosary.  This is how God tests our Faith, which assures us of the value of the Rosary, even if our feelings tell us something different. 

 

In other kinds of work for God, there can be more prospect of ‘seeing where we’ve been’.  Take the Vincent de Paul Society, for example.  If a food parcel is dropped off for a family, there is a tangible result – we know they have received food from us which previously they did not have.  That can give us a sense of achievement. 

 

It is interesting that, in Her various apparitions, Our Lady does not call us very much to good works other than prayer and penance.  Not that She has anything against them of course.  But I believe She concentrates on prayer and penance because it is more foundational, and also more apt to be neglected.  If we are doing all She asks, and still have time and energy left over, we can join all the Vincent de Paul Societies we want.  But without Her motherly guidance, however well-intentioned we may be, we will tend to busy ourselves in activities giving more immediate gratification.  There is then a grave risk of “burn out” long-term, without a firm foundation in prayer and penance. 

 

Before leaving the subject of prayer and penance I should perhaps say something, however little, about the Sacrament of Penance – now often called the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  The trouble with this new term is that in ordinary speech it tends to be used more when the rift in a relationship is quite severe, so applied to the Sacrament, it tends to perpetuate the modern myth that it is only for major sins (I do not say mortal sins, because for many proponents of this theory, it is mortal sin to believe in mortal sin!).  It is true that the Sacrament is primarily  for mortal sins; nevertheless, it is clear in the Tradition of the Church, including documents since Vatican II, that it is not only for this. 

 

My own commitment is to approach the Sacrament once a week; however, apart from these scheduled times with my long-standing regular confessor, I will often see him or other priests in the course of other activities, which affords me the opportunity to fit in extra Confessions.  Provided I do not think I will bother the priest, I always grasp such opportunities, even if I cannot think of many – or any – specifics since my last Confession.  I know, a priori, there probably have been many faults, irrespective of the number I can recall.  Moreover, without being scrupulous as to whether I have been forgiven sins of my past life, I can always renew my sorrow for them, even without re-confessing them in detail, and I know, from the Teaching of the Church, that every valid Confession infuses more grace into the soul.  Since all of us need all the help we can get, why not seize all of the assistance offered by the Church? 

 

The upshot is that, on average, I would approach the Sacrament roughly four times a week.  Clearly however I am no saint, because when we read their lives, we find some of them went every day!  This alone is enough to give the lie to the modern mentality, because presumably they were not committing mortal sins every day! 

   

Sufficiently regular and frequent Confession, combined with daily Communion, enables us to try for a plenary indulgence every day (see the Vatican’s Handbook of Indulgences, which includes an excellent presentation of the traditional doctrine by St Paul VI); if successful, we can be the means whereby a soul is liberated from Purgatory on a daily basis.  Of the extra conditions for such an indulgence, the most challenging is freedom from attachment to sin; even venial sin.  However it is important not to exaggerate the difficulty here.  The key word is attachment, not attraction. Someone can be strongly attracted to sin, and still satisfy the condition if sin is firmly rejected by the will.