Youtube Interviews
In this episode of Roadmap to Heaven, host Adam Wright welcomes guest Father Wade Menezes, and they delve into the significance of Lent in the Catholic Church. They discuss this 40-day period of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving leading up to Easter and emphasize the importance of sincere repentance and deeper conversion during this time.
Father Menezes emphasizes that Lent is not only about giving things up but also about positive actions and reflection, urging listeners to become greater lovers of God and their neighbors during this time.
Additionally, the episode touches on various aspects of Lent, such as the exclusion of Sundays from the 40-day count, the significance of the number 40 in biblical themes, and the importance of self-knowledge and personal holiness.
This episode of Roadmap to Heaven is the first of two conversations with Father Menezes about the Lenten season. The next episode will further explore specific aspects of Lent, including what to give up and what positive actions to undertake.
Adam Wright:
I’ve really been enjoying every opportunity we’ve had to speak with Father Wade Menezes, and it’s been even better in the last several conversations because we’ve been able to speak via video conference and actually see each other’s faces. And Father, I have to say, you’re the first person who’s looked at the green background behind me and said, “Well, you should change it seasonally.” So I’ve got green for ordinary time right now, but soon we’ll have to find the purple acoustic panel. Either way, it’s great to speak with you today.
Fr. Wade Menezes:
Thank you, Adam. It’s great to be back with you as we prepare to enter into the beautiful liturgical season of Lent. And by the way, the liturgical documents don’t say purple. They say violet. So that’s just a little side note there.
Adam Wright:
Well, I am going to a trivia night next week where that might actually come up, because it’s a very Catholic group, and they’ve got some really great Catholic questions. I can’t say anymore because some of our listeners are probably going to the same trivia night. But Father, we are here to speak about Lent today. We’ve spoken about Lent before, but it’s a good time for an annual primer, an annual reminder of everything we’re going to be considering. So this week, we are going to look at Lent, in the broad view, in the general. And then next week, I know you have some specifics for us as we think about what to give up or what to do, etcetera.
Fr. Wade Menezes:
Yeah. So the two shows go together. So your listeners, if they’re listening today, when we talk about Lent generally, as you said. They’re going to definitely want to tune in next week when I give some particulars, spring boarding from the 14 works of mercy, the 3 imminent good works, and some other lists of the church’s teaching, like the 7 capital sins, where we can discern some positives and negatives of Lent. Negatives of Lent are things we give up. Positives of Lent are things that we do proactively. So we tend to want to think of Lent as only a negative reality, the giving up of things. Right? But it’s also very positive things that we do during Lent, and we’ll look at some different lists of the church’s teaching in that regard to give us some things positive and some things negative that we can both do and give up. So the two shows really go together. I want to stress that for our listeners. But Lent, generally speaking, it comes from the middle English word “lencten” meaning “springtime”, which right away, Adam, the bells and whistles should go off for all of us regarding springtime, meaning new growth, new life, etcetera. So Lent is gearing towards something, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the ultimate springtime that gives us new life from death which He conquered for us, and sin. He conquered sin and death.
So, Lent, again, comes from the middle English word, “lencten” meaning “springtime”, and we want to think about those overtones of new life and whatnot. The Lenten season lasts 40 days because Jesus went into the desert for 40 days of fasting. Right? During which He was tempted, but He also went into the desert, not only to fast, but to meditate and to reflect before beginning his 3 years of public ministry. We tend to forget that: that before He began His 3 years of public ministry– And of course, tradition in the church says that He lived up to 33 years of age. The first 30 years were in silence and in a certain kind of hiddenness. Right? But His 3 years of public ministry were the last 3 years of His life, and He went to the cross for us at around age 33. Lent is reminding us of the importance of the solitude, of the fasting, of the reflection, of the meditation. The first time I typed this, I put the word “medication” instead of “meditation”. Okay? So I had to quickly fix that. Lent is not about fasting and reflection and medication. Although medication can be a good thing for some people, but meditations. I want to make that clear. It’s about meditation.
The Congregation for Divine Worship describes Lent, Adam, as a time of preparation for Easter: “It is a time to hear the word of God, to convert, to prepare one’s mind, to love one’s neighbor even more, to be reconciled with God, to remember one’s baptism, and to offer more frequent recourse to the arms of Christian penance and reconciliation.” So there you have it. There’s a list of 7 or 8 things right there. Right? Lent is preeminently about the 3 imminent good works: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Okay? So we’ll talk more about that next week when I give a list of some positives and negatives of things we can do. Fasting, we know, is a negative. We give up things. But how about the prayer and the almsgiving? Those are examples of positives of Lent. Things that we do, maybe take on the chaplet of divine mercy each day. Maybe visit a soup kitchen once a week to help serve. Positives that we do. But preeminently, it’s about the imminent good works: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Which kind of serve as a cloud, hovering over the whole and beautiful liturgical season of Lent.
Lent officially begins on Ash Wednesday, and it ends at the beginning of the Mass of the Lord’s supper on Holy Thursday. And, traditionally, Sundays are excluded in Lent’s 40 day count because every Sunday is a little Easter. Now I’m a balanced Catholic. I am right in line with the chair of Peter. I swerved neither left nor right to that chair. You know, if you fall out of the bark of Peter, Adam, you risk drowning, and I don’t want to drown. As much as I love water and white water rafting and swimming, I don’t want to drown by falling out of the bark of Peter. Right? So, if the church teaches that the Sundays of Lent are not included in the 40 day count, then you can, if you wish, without feeling guilty. Alright? You can forego the things that you’re giving up for Lent and enjoy them on Sundays, but only on Sundays. And one other time we can enjoy them: any solemnity that falls during a weekday of Lent.
Let’s say, for example, March 19th, the solemnly of Saint Joseph falls on a Wednesday. And when does it fall this year? Let me check really quick on that. It falls on a Sunday. We lose out this year. The 19th is a Sunday. So we lose that extra solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of Mary, but what’s another one during, Lent? March 25th is a Saturday. And so that’s a solemnity next to the solemnity of Sunday the 26th of March this year. So, if a solemnity falls during a weekday, we treat it like the Sunday, right? And we can forego those things we give up, but always still want to do those positives, those things we’ve decided to do during Lent. Don’t give those up. That’s my recommendation as a balanced Catholic, right? I think that’s very, very important.
So, that’s a little overview of Lent. I want to go a little deeper here about fasting. You know, fasting is a big part of Lent that can’t be denied. Fasting as a form of self deprivation that deepens our appreciation of and longing for the food we really need: spiritual nourishment. Par excellence in the Eucharist. And to receive the Eucharist, we have to be in a state of sanctifying grace (no known mortal sin on our soul). We want to make a holy communion, right? Not a sacrilegious communion. That’s an important point to make. The reason why Christ’s disciples do not fast is because they have given themselves over to Jesus completely. That passage, or that scene, I should say, and passage from Matthew 9. “Why don’t your followers fast, like the teachers of the law do?” Well they’ve given themselves over to Jesus completely. And He says, “There will be time to fast when the bridegroom is no longer present with them. But right now, the bridegroom is present with them. And so now is not the time for fasting.” But now during Lent, we want to set aside this 40 day special period to fast. We want to give ourselves entirely over to Jesus, like the disciples did, knowing that we are in this time awaiting His second coming. From His ascension Thursday, 40 days after His resurrection on Easter Sunday, ’til he comes again during the Great Parousia, told to us so beautifully in the book of the apocalypse, the book of Revelation. And so we fast so that this Lent, Christ will become our all and at Easter time, we will be ready to welcome Him and He will be with us as He was with the disciples. Now, He’s always with us, don’t get me wrong. For example, we continue to have Him in our lives. He’s the resurrected God-man, Jesus Christ. We have Him, of course, constantly in the Eucharist with us, in His real sacramental presence, body, blood, soul, and divinity. But in the liturgical season of Lent, we recall this separation to make us harken even more for the lover, as the Song of Songs tells us so beautifully in sacred scripture.
Adam Wright:
Father, dare I say that paying attention to all of this, especially as I look at my life. I was speaking the other day with Doctor Scott Hahn about that first reading we’ll hear on Ash Wednesday from Joel, return to the Lord, in all of the ways that maybe I have parted myself from the lord, whether it’s through sin, through apathy, whatever it may be, that Lent is the medication. Meditation’s part of that, but Lent is the medication for us to make that return to the Lord.
Fr. Wade Menezes:
That’s why God wanted me to mistype that originally, because He knew I would say it on the air and then it would trigger you to make that connection, which is an excellent one. Alright. I’ve got to say that on Open Line Tuesday to Jack Williams and make it sound like it came all from me. Can I do that?
Adam Wright:
You can do that. I’ll be here listening, and I’ll smile when that happens.
Fr. Wade Menezes:
Alright. Very good. Now I want to talk about another important point of Lent as we cover generally the whole liturgical season. The fact that it’s how many days, Adam?
Adam Wright:
40 days.
Fr. Wade Menezes:
40. In other words, 40 means something for us Catholic Christians. It should mean something for every Christian that loves sacred scripture. 40 means something, especially in the life of the church, the life of the Christian, and it all springboards, if you will, from scripture itself, both the Old and New Testament. 40 means several things that harken to different themes of Lent that make us want to continue to grow, like the springtime that the old English word lencten actually means. Right? So listen to this. Scripturally speaking, 40 means something. It’s plain and simple. It brings to mind such qualities as repentance, newness, preparation, say for an important work or task that’s coming up. 40 also means self examination, transformation, task fulfillment, something completed. It means escape from bondage or slavery, as well in scripture, such as to sin, for example. 40 also means nourishment and growth in sacred scripture. Again, both Old and New Testament. For example, in the spiritual life, growth in the spiritual life. And finally, 40 means, in sacred scripture, another theme here, personal fulfillment, maxing out at one’s best version of self. Okay? There’s always room for improvement, but maxing out with God’s graces that He desires to give you at that particular time, both sanctifying and actual graces, as well as prevenient graces, which can be an actual grace. Because He wants us to be as close to Him and others supernaturally in charity as we possibly can be.
So herein brings to life 2 more themes, new generation (generating life). Thus, new life itself. Now what are some examples from scripture per se that these themes come from? Okay. Are we ready for this, Adam? This is a great list. And we want to put on our seat belt because it’s a fun ride to take. The rain of the great flood, the great deluge lasted 40 days and 40 nights. Moses fasted for 40 days and 40 nights to prepare himself to receive the law. And then he remained atop mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights once he received the law. The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years after fleeing the Egyptians and their slavery under the Egyptians. The manna that rained down on the Israelites for 40 years to feed them during their sojourn in the desert. That mysterious bread-like substance, it’s actually a foreshadowing, or a type, the Latin would be “typus”, of the Eucharist that was to come, that was to be instituted in the upper room on the night of the arrest, holy Thursday the night before the crucifixion, the following day, good Friday. That mysterious bread-like substance fed the Israelites for 40 years in the desert. It gave them sustenance, in other words.
The prophet Elijah walked 40 days and 40 nights to reach the mountain of God, Horeb, which is the same mountain as Mount Sinai, but it’s the opposite side of it. How about the fact that Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights to prepare Himself for His 3 years of public ministry. I’ve already mentioned that at the beginning of this half hour. And we know that Jesus ascended into Heaven 40 days after His glorious resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday. 40 days later is Ascension Thursday, transferred to the closest Sunday in most dioceses here in the United States. But always falls the 40th day after Easter Sunday is a Thursday. It’s Ascension Thursday. Then get this. I love these last three. From Christmas day to the presentation of the Lord in the temple by his parents, Saint Joseph and the blessed virgin Mary, February 2nd, is you got it. You guessed it. 40 days. And that officially closes the Christmas tide season. Some say that the Christmas season, and rightly so, would close on the epiphany. But the Christmas tide season, in other words, those days or weeks after the epiphany (the visit of the wise men) usually January 6th through there about, again, transferred to the closest Sunday, is Christmas tide. The days between the epiphany and the presentation of the Lord. But the presentation of the Lord officially closes Christmas tide. Thus, the Christmas season in its totality, if we want to say that. And from Christmas day, December 25th, to February 2nd (the presentation of the Lord in the temple), that’s another 40 day period. How awesome is that?
How about the human gestation period in the womb is about 40 weeks, give or take. Alright? That’s another beautiful reality. Talk about new life. Right? And even the seeking — I love this one — even the seeking of a plenary or partial indulgence, has a period of 40 days, Adam, as the time allotted for one to make a good and holy confession. That is within 20 days before the day that the spiritual work was carried out for this plenary or partial indulgence, up to 20 days after the calendar day that the spiritual work was carried out for the plenary or partial indulgence. Thus, 40 days total. 20 days before the work was carried out, 20 days after the work was carried out, you have this period to make that good confession. And of course it’s understood that on the day that you carried out the spiritual work, you had the moral certitude that you were in a state of sanctifying grace. That is, with no known mortal sin on your soul, because you received holy communion as one of the requirements to have the plenary or partial indulgence fulfilled as well, and you can’t receive holy communion in a state of mortal sin. Right?
So it’s understood that even though you have these a lot of days before and after the calendar day itself, that the spiritual work was carried out, it’s understood that on the day it was carried out, you had moral certitude that you were in a state of God sanctifying grace with no known mortal sin. So that’s a list of what 40 means. 40 means something. Again, these themes of self examination, repentance, newness, preparation for an important task, transformation, task fulfillment, escape from bondage or slavery, nourishment and growth, new life, personal fulfillment, and new generation and salvation. So these are just fantastic, beautiful themes that we should bring to mind as we focus on the liturgical season of Lent.
Adam Wright:
I absolutely love it, and I love that these things aren’t just by chance or by coincidence, that there is always a deeper meaning behind the numbers here in the symbolisms that we find in the scriptures, Father. So that’s the general, and we start getting ready for this now. We’re about a week out, and then next week, it’s 100% game on, and that’s what we’re going to be talking about. The particular, the negative and the positive. The giving up and the doing more. But I do want to ask you about this before I let you go, Father. You mentioned earlier on the Sundays that we could, treating them as solemnities as the church does, we could set aside our Lenten fasting on those days. But what about those who say, “Well, I think, Father, I just like to keep doing it. I don’t mean to disregard the Sunday or the solemnity, but to have success on the other 6 days, I think I need to just refrain from it on Sundays, too.”
Fr. Wade Menezes:
They’re most welcome to do that. They’re not too rigid if they decide to do that. They’re not too far right if they decide to do that, not at all. This is just one example of the liberality, in the true sense of the word, the freedoms, the liberality of Holy Mother Church. Look at all the options for the Mass, for example. 4 Eucharistic prayers, primary ones, to choose from. There’s other ones as well, like for Masses that have children present, or for Masses where the main theme is reconciliation. There’s other Eucharistic prayers as well. The 4 primary ones, how about the penitential rite? There’s 3 options for the penitential rite, with the third one, which is the the 3 time stroke, Kyrie and Christe Eleison interspersed. I think there’s 9 options for that one. Several of them are seasonal, like for Lent, and for Christmas and Christmas tide, and Easter and Easter tide as well. So there’s all these options. So this pietistical question that you’re asking regarding personal piety, and whether or not you want to exclude yourself from the Sunday fasting or not, is perfectly okay either way. Yeah. No problem at all. There’s no need to, and I’m not saying you’re doing this, but it’s good for our listeners to hear me say this, I think. There’s no need to lend oneself towards scruples in this regard, or scrupulosity, should I or shouldn’t I, when it comes to Sundays during Lent. There’s no need to do that. Great question.
Adam Wright:
I love it. A friend of mine once shared this quote that, “We feast on feasting days. We fast on fasting days. And by observing those practices, we enjoy the feast even more, and the fast becomes more meaningful.”
Fr. Wade Menezes:
Amen. Amen. You know, Adam, if I may, just 4 short paragraphs to kind of sum everything up we’ve talked about so far. Lent is a liturgical season, and it’s proceeding Holy Week and Easter, properly speaking. And the Catholic church designates these 40 days of Lent as a time of preparation for the greatest of liturgical solemnities: Easter, the celebration of the Lord’s resurrection. The celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who overcame sin and death for us, His victory over evil, sin and death. Lenten preparation and practices should consist of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, known as the 3 imminent good works. Preeminently, Lent should focus on those 3. So as to call to one’s mind a sincere repentance of personal sin, structural sin, societal sin as well (which always begins with individual sin) and a desire for a deeper conversion of one’s soul, not only personally, but also of the culture and of the society. Right? Through these practices, we can arrive at Holy Week spiritually prepared to walk with Jesus through His suffering and death, the Via Dolorosa. Beginning on Holy Thursday night through the Easter vigil, which is its own liturgical season, which we call the sacred triduum. It’s the shortest liturgical season of the whole liturgical year. A lot of Catholics don’t realize that the sacred triduum, Holy Thursday to the Easter vigil, is somehow just an extension of Lent itself. Right? No. It’s its own liturgical season, the sacred triduum, meaning 3, the 3 days of holy Thursday evening (Mass of the Lord’s supper), Good Friday (all day), and Holy Saturday (all day, the majority of which our Lord is in the tomb), and then the resurrection on Easter Sunday morning. That’s its own liturgical season. How beautiful is that?
During the Lenten season, the church encourages the faithful to fast, not only from food and drink, but also from such things as pride, injustice, and insensitivity to the miseries of others. Now I’m kind of giving a glimmering to what we’re going to talk about next week on the negatives we give up for Lent like fasting, and the positives we do for Lent like wanting to serve at a soup kitchen, if our regular work and family schedule permits that. But during the Lentencies, and the church encourages the faithful to fast, not only from food and drink as I said, but also from such things as pride, injustice, and insensitivity to the miseries of others. For example, almsgiving itself should not consist merely in the sharing and giving of material goods to those especially in need, but should also constitute an attitude of the utmost charity towards others. Faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love. Right? Our Lenten practices too, Adam, should help us to see clearly. The church teaches that only through an openness to God and His sanctifying grace working in our lives in prayer and detachment from sin, and especially mortal sin, can we experience true and authentic conversion. That’s very, very important. As God makes our hearts more open and more understanding to what He wants to do in these same lives of ours. Constant, constant work in progress. Right?
You know, look in the mirror. Right? Who’s the enemy, Father Wade? Right here, Father Wade, usually begins right here. We’re too quick to want to give the devil the credit of all the train wrecks in our lives. Now he can cause train wrecks in our lives. He’s real. He exists. As is Hell real, and Hell exists, no doubt. But before we give him all the credit, which is what he wants us to do, because he wants us to have an inordinate focus on him working the negatives in our life. Before we give the devil all the credit, let’s look here and see how I’m weak, how I’m wounded, how I have my fauxpas, my issues, my dependencies, my addictions, and what I can do to start overcoming these things. Read the lives of the saints, right? The saints. Augustine’s lust, Padre Pio’s inordinate anger, Saint Mary of Egypt’s prostitution, Saint Camillus de Lellis’s gambling addiction, Venerable Matt Talbot’s drinking addiction. The list goes on and on and on and on. Right? So only through this true conversion process can we experience God really taking over our lives and us being open to Him.
This is why I love the devotion of the sacred heart of Jesus anytime of the year, but I especially love focusing on the most sacred heart of Jesus during Lent. One of the beautiful aspiration prayers in honor of the Sacred Heart devotion is, I’m sure you know and your family knows, Adam, and everybody there at Covenant Network: “Oh Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine heart.” “Oh Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine.” Okay? Beautiful aspiration prayer, beautiful ejaculatory prayer. Those are the prayers that are said quickly, and they’re said through memory, and they help us practice the presence of God throughout the day, very, very important. And 1 Corinthians 13:13 says “Faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.” And that’s what we’re focusing on ultimately by carrying out Lenten practices, is we want to be greater lovers of God, greater lovers of our neighbor, and we want to live that best version of self. So all of this is geared towards something. And ultimately, it’s what 1 Corinthians 13:13 says: it’s all about love.
Adam Wright:
It is. It is. And, Father, I love that you point out to us to start by looking in the mirror at ourselves. It takes me back to what we spoke about last time, Saint Philip Neri’s morning offering: “Lord, watch out for your Philip today. For if you do not, he will surely betray you.” I don’t want to betray our Lord. I know you don’t want to betray our Lord. I know our listeners don’t want betray our Lord. So let’s use the season of Lent to weed out those things, those habits, those practices, that are the areas where we betray our Lord.
Fr. Wade Menezes:
And all of this during Lent is great for growth and self knowledge, which is really what that prayer of Saint Philip Neri was all about. Saint Thomas Aquinas, I’ve said this on earlier shows with you, Adam, as you know, Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches one of the first main steps to grow in holiness, personally, to grow in greater sanctity, personally, for the individual, is to have good self knowledge. Know yourself. And then he defines what that means. Right? Know your virtues to advance them. Know your vices to begin to uproot them out of your life. That’s good self knowledge. And that’s what Philip Neri was saying in his morning offering. “Oh, Lord, stay by your Philip today. Because if you do not, your Philip will betray you before the day is over.” That was his morning offering. The morning offering prayer should be a staple prayer in our daily spiritual life, whether single, married, or a consecrated religious. I know some spouses, for example, that say the morning offering together. Some spouses do it individually. Doesn’t matter. Just do a morning offering. Pray a morning offering, and Lent can help us grow in this self knowledge that is so, so important in the spiritual life.
Adam Wright:
Well, it has been wonderful to be with you once again, Father. And I look forward to next week where we talk about the negative and the positive. But as always, I look forward to the prayer we always close each segment with, because not only did you send it to us on a pen, “St. Joseph Terror of Demons Pray for us”, it’s something we’ve incorporated into our prayer every day. Morning offering to lead the show, and turning to the Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph at the end of every show together. So Father, if you could please lead us in prayer.
Fr. Wade Menezes:
Sure, Adam. May the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, descend upon all of our Covenant Network listeners and Roadmap to Heaven listeners and remain with each and every one of you, this day and always, Saint Joseph Terror of Demons.
Adam Wright:
Pray for us. Well, once again, we’ve been talking with Father Wade Menezes from the Fathers of Mercy. If you’d like learn more about the Fathers of Mercy, be sure to check out their website. We will put it in the description. It’s very easy. It’s fathersofmercy.com. Oh, dot com, that’s right. I have it bookmarked now, Father. So I don’t even type it in. I just click the direct link, fathersofmercy.com, there’s some great resources for you on there. We’re going to take a break here on the show. We’ll be back after this.
Adam Wright:
I’ve really been enjoying every opportunity we’ve had to speak with Father Wade Menezes, and it’s been even better in the last several conversations because we’ve been able to speak via video conference and actually see each other’s faces. And Father, I have to say, you’re the first person who’s looked at the green background behind me and said, “Well, you should change it seasonally.” So I’ve got green for ordinary time right now, but soon we’ll have to find the purple acoustic panel. Either way, it’s great to speak with you today.
Fr. Wade Menezes:
Thank you, Adam. It’s great to be back with you as we prepare to enter into the beautiful liturgical season of Lent. And by the way, the liturgical documents don’t say purple. They say violet. So that’s just a little side note there.
Adam Wright:
Well, I am going to a trivia night next week where that might actually come up, because it’s a very Catholic group, and they’ve got some really great Catholic questions. I can’t say anymore because some of our listeners are probably going to the same trivia night. But Father, we are here to speak about Lent today. We’ve spoken about Lent before, but it’s a good time for an annual primer, an annual reminder of everything we’re going to be considering. So this week, we are going to look at Lent, in the broad view, in the general. And then next week, I know you have some specifics for us as we think about what to give up or what to do, etcetera.
Fr. Wade Menezes:
Yeah. So the two shows go together. So your listeners, if they’re listening today, when we talk about Lent generally, as you said. They’re going to definitely want to tune in next week when I give some particulars, spring boarding from the 14 works of mercy, the 3 imminent good works, and some other lists of the church’s teaching, like the 7 capital sins, where we can discern some positives and negatives of Lent. Negatives of Lent are things we give up. Positives of Lent are things that we do proactively. So we tend to want to think of Lent as only a negative reality, the giving up of things. Right? But it’s also very positive things that we do during Lent, and we’ll look at some different lists of the church’s teaching in that regard to give us some things positive and some things negative that we can both do and give up. So the two shows really go together. I want to stress that for our listeners. But Lent, generally speaking, it comes from the middle English word “lencten” meaning “springtime”, which right away, Adam, the bells and whistles should go off for all of us regarding springtime, meaning new growth, new life, etcetera. So Lent is gearing towards something, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the ultimate springtime that gives us new life from death which He conquered for us, and sin. He conquered sin and death.
So, Lent, again, comes from the middle English word, “lencten” meaning “springtime”, and we want to think about those overtones of new life and whatnot. The Lenten season lasts 40 days because Jesus went into the desert for 40 days of fasting. Right? During which He was tempted, but He also went into the desert, not only to fast, but to meditate and to reflect before beginning his 3 years of public ministry. We tend to forget that: that before He began His 3 years of public ministry– And of course, tradition in the church says that He lived up to 33 years of age. The first 30 years were in silence and in a certain kind of hiddenness. Right? But His 3 years of public ministry were the last 3 years of His life, and He went to the cross for us at around age 33. Lent is reminding us of the importance of the solitude, of the fasting, of the reflection, of the meditation. The first time I typed this, I put the word “medication” instead of “meditation”. Okay? So I had to quickly fix that. Lent is not about fasting and reflection and medication. Although medication can be a good thing for some people, but meditations. I want to make that clear. It’s about meditation.
The Congregation for Divine Worship describes Lent, Adam, as a time of preparation for Easter: “It is a time to hear the word of God, to convert, to prepare one’s mind, to love one’s neighbor even more, to be reconciled with God, to remember one’s baptism, and to offer more frequent recourse to the arms of Christian penance and reconciliation.” So there you have it. There’s a list of 7 or 8 things right there. Right? Lent is preeminently about the 3 imminent good works: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Okay? So we’ll talk more about that next week when I give a list of some positives and negatives of things we can do. Fasting, we know, is a negative. We give up things. But how about the prayer and the almsgiving? Those are examples of positives of Lent. Things that we do, maybe take on the chaplet of divine mercy each day. Maybe visit a soup kitchen once a week to help serve. Positives that we do. But preeminently, it’s about the imminent good works: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Which kind of serve as a cloud, hovering over the whole and beautiful liturgical season of Lent.
Lent officially begins on Ash Wednesday, and it ends at the beginning of the Mass of the Lord’s supper on Holy Thursday. And, traditionally, Sundays are excluded in Lent’s 40 day count because every Sunday is a little Easter. Now I’m a balanced Catholic. I am right in line with the chair of Peter. I swerved neither left nor right to that chair. You know, if you fall out of the bark of Peter, Adam, you risk drowning, and I don’t want to drown. As much as I love water and white water rafting and swimming, I don’t want to drown by falling out of the bark of Peter. Right? So, if the church teaches that the Sundays of Lent are not included in the 40 day count, then you can, if you wish, without feeling guilty. Alright? You can forego the things that you’re giving up for Lent and enjoy them on Sundays, but only on Sundays. And one other time we can enjoy them: any solemnity that falls during a weekday of Lent.
Let’s say, for example, March 19th, the solemnly of Saint Joseph falls on a Wednesday. And when does it fall this year? Let me check really quick on that. It falls on a Sunday. We lose out this year. The 19th is a Sunday. So we lose that extra solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of Mary, but what’s another one during, Lent? March 25th is a Saturday. And so that’s a solemnity next to the solemnity of Sunday the 26th of March this year. So, if a solemnity falls during a weekday, we treat it like the Sunday, right? And we can forego those things we give up, but always still want to do those positives, those things we’ve decided to do during Lent. Don’t give those up. That’s my recommendation as a balanced Catholic, right? I think that’s very, very important.
So, that’s a little overview of Lent. I want to go a little deeper here about fasting. You know, fasting is a big part of Lent that can’t be denied. Fasting as a form of self deprivation that deepens our appreciation of and longing for the food we really need: spiritual nourishment. Par excellence in the Eucharist. And to receive the Eucharist, we have to be in a state of sanctifying grace (no known mortal sin on our soul). We want to make a holy communion, right? Not a sacrilegious communion. That’s an important point to make. The reason why Christ’s disciples do not fast is because they have given themselves over to Jesus completely. That passage, or that scene, I should say, and passage from Matthew 9. “Why don’t your followers fast, like the teachers of the law do?” Well they’ve given themselves over to Jesus completely. And He says, “There will be time to fast when the bridegroom is no longer present with them. But right now, the bridegroom is present with them. And so now is not the time for fasting.” But now during Lent, we want to set aside this 40 day special period to fast. We want to give ourselves entirely over to Jesus, like the disciples did, knowing that we are in this time awaiting His second coming. From His ascension Thursday, 40 days after His resurrection on Easter Sunday, ’til he comes again during the Great Parousia, told to us so beautifully in the book of the apocalypse, the book of Revelation. And so we fast so that this Lent, Christ will become our all and at Easter time, we will be ready to welcome Him and He will be with us as He was with the disciples. Now, He’s always with us, don’t get me wrong. For example, we continue to have Him in our lives. He’s the resurrected God-man, Jesus Christ. We have Him, of course, constantly in the Eucharist with us, in His real sacramental presence, body, blood, soul, and divinity. But in the liturgical season of Lent, we recall this separation to make us harken even more for the lover, as the Song of Songs tells us so beautifully in sacred scripture.
Adam Wright:
Father, dare I say that paying attention to all of this, especially as I look at my life. I was speaking the other day with Doctor Scott Hahn about that first reading we’ll hear on Ash Wednesday from Joel, return to the Lord, in all of the ways that maybe I have parted myself from the lord, whether it’s through sin, through apathy, whatever it may be, that Lent is the medication. Meditation’s part of that, but Lent is the medication for us to make that return to the Lord.
Fr. Wade Menezes:
That’s why God wanted me to mistype that originally, because He knew I would say it on the air and then it would trigger you to make that connection, which is an excellent one. Alright. I’ve got to say that on Open Line Tuesday to Jack Williams and make it sound like it came all from me. Can I do that?
Adam Wright:
You can do that. I’ll be here listening, and I’ll smile when that happens.
Fr. Wade Menezes:
Alright. Very good. Now I want to talk about another important point of Lent as we cover generally the whole liturgical season. The fact that it’s how many days, Adam?
Adam Wright:
40 days.
Fr. Wade Menezes:
40. In other words, 40 means something for us Catholic Christians. It should mean something for every Christian that loves sacred scripture. 40 means something, especially in the life of the church, the life of the Christian, and it all springboards, if you will, from scripture itself, both the Old and New Testament. 40 means several things that harken to different themes of Lent that make us want to continue to grow, like the springtime that the old English word lencten actually means. Right? So listen to this. Scripturally speaking, 40 means something. It’s plain and simple. It brings to mind such qualities as repentance, newness, preparation, say for an important work or task that’s coming up. 40 also means self examination, transformation, task fulfillment, something completed. It means escape from bondage or slavery, as well in scripture, such as to sin, for example. 40 also means nourishment and growth in sacred scripture. Again, both Old and New Testament. For example, in the spiritual life, growth in the spiritual life. And finally, 40 means, in sacred scripture, another theme here, personal fulfillment, maxing out at one’s best version of self. Okay? There’s always room for improvement, but maxing out with God’s graces that He desires to give you at that particular time, both sanctifying and actual graces, as well as prevenient graces, which can be an actual grace. Because He wants us to be as close to Him and others supernaturally in charity as we possibly can be.
So herein brings to life 2 more themes, new generation (generating life). Thus, new life itself. Now what are some examples from scripture per se that these themes come from? Okay. Are we ready for this, Adam? This is a great list. And we want to put on our seat belt because it’s a fun ride to take. The rain of the great flood, the great deluge lasted 40 days and 40 nights. Moses fasted for 40 days and 40 nights to prepare himself to receive the law. And then he remained atop mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights once he received the law. The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years after fleeing the Egyptians and their slavery under the Egyptians. The manna that rained down on the Israelites for 40 years to feed them during their sojourn in the desert. That mysterious bread-like substance, it’s actually a foreshadowing, or a type, the Latin would be “typus”, of the Eucharist that was to come, that was to be instituted in the upper room on the night of the arrest, holy Thursday the night before the crucifixion, the following day, good Friday. That mysterious bread-like substance fed the Israelites for 40 years in the desert. It gave them sustenance, in other words.
The prophet Elijah walked 40 days and 40 nights to reach the mountain of God, Horeb, which is the same mountain as Mount Sinai, but it’s the opposite side of it. How about the fact that Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights to prepare Himself for His 3 years of public ministry. I’ve already mentioned that at the beginning of this half hour. And we know that Jesus ascended into Heaven 40 days after His glorious resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday. 40 days later is Ascension Thursday, transferred to the closest Sunday in most dioceses here in the United States. But always falls the 40th day after Easter Sunday is a Thursday. It’s Ascension Thursday. Then get this. I love these last three. From Christmas day to the presentation of the Lord in the temple by his parents, Saint Joseph and the blessed virgin Mary, February 2nd, is you got it. You guessed it. 40 days. And that officially closes the Christmas tide season. Some say that the Christmas season, and rightly so, would close on the epiphany. But the Christmas tide season, in other words, those days or weeks after the epiphany (the visit of the wise men) usually January 6th through there about, again, transferred to the closest Sunday, is Christmas tide. The days between the epiphany and the presentation of the Lord. But the presentation of the Lord officially closes Christmas tide. Thus, the Christmas season in its totality, if we want to say that. And from Christmas day, December 25th, to February 2nd (the presentation of the Lord in the temple), that’s another 40 day period. How awesome is that?
How about the human gestation period in the womb is about 40 weeks, give or take. Alright? That’s another beautiful reality. Talk about new life. Right? And even the seeking — I love this one — even the seeking of a plenary or partial indulgence, has a period of 40 days, Adam, as the time allotted for one to make a good and holy confession. That is within 20 days before the day that the spiritual work was carried out for this plenary or partial indulgence, up to 20 days after the calendar day that the spiritual work was carried out for the plenary or partial indulgence. Thus, 40 days total. 20 days before the work was carried out, 20 days after the work was carried out, you have this period to make that good confession. And of course it’s understood that on the day that you carried out the spiritual work, you had the moral certitude that you were in a state of sanctifying grace. That is, with no known mortal sin on your soul, because you received holy communion as one of the requirements to have the plenary or partial indulgence fulfilled as well, and you can’t receive holy communion in a state of mortal sin. Right?
So it’s understood that even though you have these a lot of days before and after the calendar day itself, that the spiritual work was carried out, it’s understood that on the day it was carried out, you had moral certitude that you were in a state of God sanctifying grace with no known mortal sin. So that’s a list of what 40 means. 40 means something. Again, these themes of self examination, repentance, newness, preparation for an important task, transformation, task fulfillment, escape from bondage or slavery, nourishment and growth, new life, personal fulfillment, and new generation and salvation. So these are just fantastic, beautiful themes that we should bring to mind as we focus on the liturgical season of Lent.
Adam Wright:
I absolutely love it, and I love that these things aren’t just by chance or by coincidence, that there is always a deeper meaning behind the numbers here in the symbolisms that we find in the scriptures, Father. So that’s the general, and we start getting ready for this now. We’re about a week out, and then next week, it’s 100% game on, and that’s what we’re going to be talking about. The particular, the negative and the positive. The giving up and the doing more. But I do want to ask you about this before I let you go, Father. You mentioned earlier on the Sundays that we could, treating them as solemnities as the church does, we could set aside our Lenten fasting on those days. But what about those who say, “Well, I think, Father, I just like to keep doing it. I don’t mean to disregard the Sunday or the solemnity, but to have success on the other 6 days, I think I need to just refrain from it on Sundays, too.”
Fr. Wade Menezes:
They’re most welcome to do that. They’re not too rigid if they decide to do that. They’re not too far right if they decide to do that, not at all. This is just one example of the liberality, in the true sense of the word, the freedoms, the liberality of Holy Mother Church. Look at all the options for the Mass, for example. 4 Eucharistic prayers, primary ones, to choose from. There’s other ones as well, like for Masses that have children present, or for Masses where the main theme is reconciliation. There’s other Eucharistic prayers as well. The 4 primary ones, how about the penitential rite? There’s 3 options for the penitential rite, with the third one, which is the the 3 time stroke, Kyrie and Christe Eleison interspersed. I think there’s 9 options for that one. Several of them are seasonal, like for Lent, and for Christmas and Christmas tide, and Easter and Easter tide as well. So there’s all these options. So this pietistical question that you’re asking regarding personal piety, and whether or not you want to exclude yourself from the Sunday fasting or not, is perfectly okay either way. Yeah. No problem at all. There’s no need to, and I’m not saying you’re doing this, but it’s good for our listeners to hear me say this, I think. There’s no need to lend oneself towards scruples in this regard, or scrupulosity, should I or shouldn’t I, when it comes to Sundays during Lent. There’s no need to do that. Great question.
Adam Wright:
I love it. A friend of mine once shared this quote that, “We feast on feasting days. We fast on fasting days. And by observing those practices, we enjoy the feast even more, and the fast becomes more meaningful.”
Fr. Wade Menezes:
Amen. Amen. You know, Adam, if I may, just 4 short paragraphs to kind of sum everything up we’ve talked about so far. Lent is a liturgical season, and it’s proceeding Holy Week and Easter, properly speaking. And the Catholic church designates these 40 days of Lent as a time of preparation for the greatest of liturgical solemnities: Easter, the celebration of the Lord’s resurrection. The celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who overcame sin and death for us, His victory over evil, sin and death. Lenten preparation and practices should consist of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, known as the 3 imminent good works. Preeminently, Lent should focus on those 3. So as to call to one’s mind a sincere repentance of personal sin, structural sin, societal sin as well (which always begins with individual sin) and a desire for a deeper conversion of one’s soul, not only personally, but also of the culture and of the society. Right? Through these practices, we can arrive at Holy Week spiritually prepared to walk with Jesus through His suffering and death, the Via Dolorosa. Beginning on Holy Thursday night through the Easter vigil, which is its own liturgical season, which we call the sacred triduum. It’s the shortest liturgical season of the whole liturgical year. A lot of Catholics don’t realize that the sacred triduum, Holy Thursday to the Easter vigil, is somehow just an extension of Lent itself. Right? No. It’s its own liturgical season, the sacred triduum, meaning 3, the 3 days of holy Thursday evening (Mass of the Lord’s supper), Good Friday (all day), and Holy Saturday (all day, the majority of which our Lord is in the tomb), and then the resurrection on Easter Sunday morning. That’s its own liturgical season. How beautiful is that?
During the Lenten season, the church encourages the faithful to fast, not only from food and drink, but also from such things as pride, injustice, and insensitivity to the miseries of others. Now I’m kind of giving a glimmering to what we’re going to talk about next week on the negatives we give up for Lent like fasting, and the positives we do for Lent like wanting to serve at a soup kitchen, if our regular work and family schedule permits that. But during the Lentencies, and the church encourages the faithful to fast, not only from food and drink as I said, but also from such things as pride, injustice, and insensitivity to the miseries of others. For example, almsgiving itself should not consist merely in the sharing and giving of material goods to those especially in need, but should also constitute an attitude of the utmost charity towards others. Faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love. Right? Our Lenten practices too, Adam, should help us to see clearly. The church teaches that only through an openness to God and His sanctifying grace working in our lives in prayer and detachment from sin, and especially mortal sin, can we experience true and authentic conversion. That’s very, very important. As God makes our hearts more open and more understanding to what He wants to do in these same lives of ours. Constant, constant work in progress. Right?
You know, look in the mirror. Right? Who’s the enemy, Father Wade? Right here, Father Wade, usually begins right here. We’re too quick to want to give the devil the credit of all the train wrecks in our lives. Now he can cause train wrecks in our lives. He’s real. He exists. As is Hell real, and Hell exists, no doubt. But before we give him all the credit, which is what he wants us to do, because he wants us to have an inordinate focus on him working the negatives in our life. Before we give the devil all the credit, let’s look here and see how I’m weak, how I’m wounded, how I have my fauxpas, my issues, my dependencies, my addictions, and what I can do to start overcoming these things. Read the lives of the saints, right? The saints. Augustine’s lust, Padre Pio’s inordinate anger, Saint Mary of Egypt’s prostitution, Saint Camillus de Lellis’s gambling addiction, Venerable Matt Talbot’s drinking addiction. The list goes on and on and on and on. Right? So only through this true conversion process can we experience God really taking over our lives and us being open to Him.
This is why I love the devotion of the sacred heart of Jesus anytime of the year, but I especially love focusing on the most sacred heart of Jesus during Lent. One of the beautiful aspiration prayers in honor of the Sacred Heart devotion is, I’m sure you know and your family knows, Adam, and everybody there at Covenant Network: “Oh Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine heart.” “Oh Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine.” Okay? Beautiful aspiration prayer, beautiful ejaculatory prayer. Those are the prayers that are said quickly, and they’re said through memory, and they help us practice the presence of God throughout the day, very, very important. And 1 Corinthians 13:13 says “Faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.” And that’s what we’re focusing on ultimately by carrying out Lenten practices, is we want to be greater lovers of God, greater lovers of our neighbor, and we want to live that best version of self. So all of this is geared towards something. And ultimately, it’s what 1 Corinthians 13:13 says: it’s all about love.
Adam Wright:
It is. It is. And, Father, I love that you point out to us to start by looking in the mirror at ourselves. It takes me back to what we spoke about last time, Saint Philip Neri’s morning offering: “Lord, watch out for your Philip today. For if you do not, he will surely betray you.” I don’t want to betray our Lord. I know you don’t want to betray our Lord. I know our listeners don’t want betray our Lord. So let’s use the season of Lent to weed out those things, those habits, those practices, that are the areas where we betray our Lord.
Fr. Wade Menezes:
And all of this during Lent is great for growth and self knowledge, which is really what that prayer of Saint Philip Neri was all about. Saint Thomas Aquinas, I’ve said this on earlier shows with you, Adam, as you know, Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches one of the first main steps to grow in holiness, personally, to grow in greater sanctity, personally, for the individual, is to have good self knowledge. Know yourself. And then he defines what that means. Right? Know your virtues to advance them. Know your vices to begin to uproot them out of your life. That’s good self knowledge. And that’s what Philip Neri was saying in his morning offering. “Oh, Lord, stay by your Philip today. Because if you do not, your Philip will betray you before the day is over.” That was his morning offering. The morning offering prayer should be a staple prayer in our daily spiritual life, whether single, married, or a consecrated religious. I know some spouses, for example, that say the morning offering together. Some spouses do it individually. Doesn’t matter. Just do a morning offering. Pray a morning offering, and Lent can help us grow in this self knowledge that is so, so important in the spiritual life.
Adam Wright:
Well, it has been wonderful to be with you once again, Father. And I look forward to next week where we talk about the negative and the positive. But as always, I look forward to the prayer we always close each segment with, because not only did you send it to us on a pen, “St. Joseph Terror of Demons Pray for us”, it’s something we’ve incorporated into our prayer every day. Morning offering to lead the show, and turning to the Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph at the end of every show together. So Father, if you could please lead us in prayer.
Fr. Wade Menezes:
Sure, Adam. May the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, descend upon all of our Covenant Network listeners and Roadmap to Heaven listeners and remain with each and every one of you, this day and always, Saint Joseph Terror of Demons.
Adam Wright:
Pray for us. Well, once again, we’ve been talking with Father Wade Menezes from the Fathers of Mercy. If you’d like learn more about the Fathers of Mercy, be sure to check out their website. We will put it in the description. It’s very easy. It’s fathersofmercy.com. Oh, dot com, that’s right. I have it bookmarked now, Father. So I don’t even type it in. I just click the direct link, fathersofmercy.com, there’s some great resources for you on there. We’re going to take a break here on the show. We’ll be back after this.
In this episode of Roadmap to Heaven, host Adam Wright welcomes guest Father Wade Menezes, and they delve into the significance of Lent in the Catholic Church. They discuss this 40-day period of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving leading up to Easter and emphasize the importance of sincere repentance and deeper conversion during this time.
Father Menezes emphasizes that Lent is not only about giving things up but also about positive actions and reflection, urging listeners to become greater lovers of God and their neighbors during this time.
Additionally, the episode touches on various aspects of Lent, such as the exclusion of Sundays from the 40-day count, the significance of the number 40 in biblical themes, and the importance of self-knowledge and personal holiness.
This episode of Roadmap to Heaven is the first of two conversations with Father Menezes about the Lenten season. The next episode will further explore specific aspects of Lent, including what to give up and what positive actions to undertake.
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