Happy Easter!
What a day! I get to drink alcohol and soda again (the two food items I gave up for Lent) which I must admit, excites me. I hope that you have a wonderful Easter Day, hopefully spent with family and friends. Take time today to really thank God for the Resurrection and to meditate on Christ’s victory over death. This is the most important day of the year for Christians, so act like it!
What I learned from Lent
During Lent, Catholics typically try and give up things while also attempting a renewal of their spiritual life. It is a time for prayer, fasting, and alms-giving. I gave up alcohol, soda, and a few types of social media such as Instagram and X. I also committed to praying a daily rosary as well as Morning and Evening prayer from the liturgy of the hours.
This went really well for about two and a half full weeks, until I went back home on Spring break, at which point my routine was completely destroyed. Unfortunately I fell out of my daily prayer routine and was not able to get back into it until Holy Week. Nevertheless, I did find myself praying more often even during the period when I was not where I really wanted to be. I also held strong on my refusal of alcohol and soda and in general saw a decline in screen time. I also have seen an improvement in combating certain vices. Overall, I think my Lent was more a success than not.
I learned a few valuable lessons, too. First of all, social media really sucks. I abhor X now more than ever and I will not be returning to it. Second, prayer has a direct correlation to the rest of your life. When my prayer was at its best I really felt the rewards, not just mentally and spiritually but also just in how my day went. When my prayer fell to its lowest, I really felt more susceptible to mental and spiritual fatigue, and my days really were not as good as they were when I prayed well. Finally, really committing to Lent has made the excitement of Easter all the greater. I was on the edge of my seat all last week just waiting for Holy Saturday night and Easter morning to come around. And when it did, I literally jumped around and praised God!
With Lent now being over, I will certainly be enjoying alcohol (in moderation) once again, but there are things I want to keep doing and other things I want to keep giving up. I want to continue nourishing a strong daily prayer life. I want to keep abstaining from meat on Fridays, and I may even try to commit to fasting on Fridays as well (we will see if that lasts). I want to continue generously giving alms. I also want to keep my screen time low. I want to get off social media as much as I can. I’d like to not drink soda all that much. And I want to keep increasing in virtue and decreasing in vice.
Lent has really had an effect on me, and I want to continue the momentum.
That leads me to a broader point I want to make about Christian living today.
Liturgical Living
My friend
wrote a short essay entitled Living Integralism wherein he asserts that, “Integralism, at its core, is an assent to the idea that the claims made by the Church are real, that we truly live in a reality which reflects those claims, and that there exists no reality outside of the purview of the claims made by the Church.” This, of course, has political implications, but reality is more than politics. It applies to all aspects of life. Of course, today we live in a secular society. As such, it is not uncommon to hear talk of the need for life to be re-sacralized” or for “re-enchantment.” Touching on this in his essay, Sanfedisti says, “Cultivating a return to the sacred, a life lived which looks in awe upon eternity and our connection to it, is then key to returning to an authentic life.”I couldn’t agree more! He then asks, “How do we articulate or live with a genuine sacramental spirit? How do we realize a genuine conception of ourselves as existing inside of a world where soul and spirit are as real as the walls around our hearths?” This is an extremely important question to ask and is perhaps the question for Catholics to be pondering right now. Sanfedisti notes that the answer, the Integralism he speaks of, must be “living,” that is, it cannot exist only in the mind, but must really be practiced and lived out every day.
What, then, can a Catholic do to live integrally, to conceive of the world as sacred, and to cultivate a sacramental spirit?
I would posit that one of the chief ways to accomplish this is by observing and really taking seriously the liturgical seasons. We must begin to live liturgically.
In Pascal’s Pensées Chapter III Section III, number 233, he says to the non-believer who wishes to believe:
You would like to attain faith, and do not know the way; you would like to cure yourself of unbelief, and ask the remedy for it. Learn of those who have been bound like you, and who now stake all their possessions. These are people who know the way which you would follow, and who are cured of an ill of which you would be cured. Follow the way by which they began; by acting as if they believed, taking the holy water, having masses said, etc. Even this will naturally make you believe, and deaden your acuteness.
We can apply this principle to the observance of the liturgical seasons. Perhaps the days and seasons mean little to you now. Fine. Begin to live and act as if they do, and eventually, they really will.
Let me give an example. If, for instance, some great solemnity is approaching, and you ordinarily would do nothing special for it, now, make every effort to observe it, whether by praying, by feasting in some way, by attending a mass, and so on. At first this may feel somewhat artificial. It may feel as if you are really having to work at it to make it seem special. But over time it will become habit, and then something you hardly notice but do automatically. Now, it is not necessarily the goal that your spiritual life become unconscious; actually, it is preferable that you be quite conscious of it. Rather, the goal is for it to become natural, to become an integrated part of your day-to-day life.
There are really easy and tangible ways to put this into practice. First and foremost, we must really begin to treat the Lord’s Day with the respect it deserves. This does not just mean going to church, but actually resting, taking time to pray outside church, and also just enjoying the day! Eat something special or have a treat. It’s Sunday! Rejoice! Obviously not everyone has the most ideal circumstances, but whatever your situation, really make an effort to observe the Lord’s Day.
A necessary part of living liturgically is to begin keeping up with the liturgical calendar. There are many online resources that make this easy, and also physical calendars that you can purchase. Watch for feast days, know what season it is, and actually make an effort to understand the symbols and colors of the season. Going to mass, whether on Sunday or weekdays, and understanding the way it is celebrated in accordance with the season is vital in this endeavor. Using a Missal helps a lot in this regard, and is a way you can keep up with the daily liturgy even if you can’t attend.
Living liturgically does not merely entail going to mass either. For instance, praying the rosary daily will eventually cause you to associate each day with some mystery. Sunday is Glorious, Monday is Joyful, Tuesday is Sorrowful, Thursday is Luminous, and so on.
Another way to live liturgically is to observe Fridays as days of penance (in fact, they always have been and still are). In the United States, Friday is a day of penance and while abstinence from meat is not a requirement, it is actually highly encouraged as the norm. Therefore, abstaining from meat on Fridays even outside of Lent is a really good idea. If this is not your preference, make every effort to do something penitential on Friday. Maybe give up something you normally eat or drink, or wake up earlier, or don’t indulge in an activity you normally would. However you accomplish it, making Friday a day of penance will further sacralize your week.
I also believe we should revive the practice of Ember Days. Ember Days are days of fasting and prayer, and only fell out of observance in the 1960s. It takes a bit to explain them, so if you want to learn more, click here.
Finally, I must suggest what I believe to be one of the greatest ways to live liturgically: praying the Liturgy of the Hours (LOTH). It’s in the name! By praying the LOTH, you are, in a sense, sanctifying every hour. The LOTH is a liturgy that any Christian can celebrate whether alone or in a group (I would really love a renaissance of group prayer of the LOTH). The most important hours are Morning and Evening prayer. There’s also an Office of Readings for each day, and Night Prayer, which is very short and is only on a one week cycle. The LOTH is prayed by all priests and religious around the world, and also by lay men and women. Therefore, when you pray it, you are joining in a universal prayer, just as you do when you celebrate mass. The LOTH incorporates feasts and solemnities, has a four week psalter, daily scripture readings and readings from the saints, as well as various other prayers that change depending on the liturgical season.
I have noticed that when I am really making a habit of praying morning and evening prayer, it begins to affect the way I think about the day going forward. I cannot quite find the words to explain, but it really does just infuse your daily life with this spiritual element that normally wouldn’t be there. Morning and evening prayer are sort of like spiritual bookends that keep the whole day ordered; the day begins in prayer and ends in it, and everything in between happens within this context. To further accomplish this, I try to avoid looking at my phone until after I’ve done morning prayer.
I am sure there are many more ways to live liturgically, but there are just some practical steps to begin doing so. Once you begin to live liturgically, you find that temporal life begins to take on new meaning. Your activities now take place alongside this spiritual order, your weeks and months gain new meaning, and you are given more opportunities to celebrate and feast, and also to fast and do penance.
I believe liturgical living is not just possible, but actually already exists for many Catholics for at least part of the year. Lent and Easter are probably the most palpable liturgical seasons, followed by Advent, and for good reason. Lent is marked by Ash Wednesday, a very physical liturgy, and then every following liturgy is shaped by the season; the Gloria is omitted and the mass is changed ever so slightly here and there. By Holy Saturday, you are itching to sing the Gloria again! You really begin to feel the gloom of Lent as it goes on, just by going to mass every Sunday. Plus, if you’ve given things up and stick with that, you really feel the effects of your sacrifice with each passing week. Then there’s the Triduum, with its special liturgies. Holy Saturday may include the washing of feet, then the stripping of the altars. Good Friday is a really unique liturgy as there is actually no mass. The cross is venerated. The Easter Vigil is without comparison; it’s long, but it’s very impactful. Finally, Easter Sunday is just exuberant.
Unfortunately, once Easter is over, it is easy to slip out of that liturgical living. The goal, then, must be to continue living liturgically even past Easter, and to do so all year. I believe that if we as Catholics and Christians can live in this way all the time, we will slowly but surely begin to conceive of the world in a new way, and put ourselves on the path to re-sacralizing our existence.
Oh, one last think, I would like to note how the liturgical seasons often correspond nicely to the natural seasons, thus, if you begin to live liturgically, you will also live harmoniously with nature and the temporal world. It’s as if the created world and the spiritual world were not meant to be entirely divorced, and as if God ordered things in such a way that the calendar of the Church and the calendar of the earth went hand in hand!
We win in the end
To be honest with you, I’ve been pretty blackpilled the last few months. All this reading about technology and nihilism and such will do that to you, not to mention the adverse effects of social media prior to Lent. However, this Easter I am feeling quite good. And really it’s because the whole story of Christ’s death and resurrection is true. Yes, it’s that simple. But think about it. Jesus Christ really lived, died on the cross for you and me, rose from the grave and defeated death for good, and now reigns in heaven and will come again. Isn’t that Good News? And isn’t it still Good News today? I’ve heard enough about the death of God and how the “gods” have gone away; my God died and rose from the dead, so I’m not too worried. Whatever temporal sufferings occur, whatever persecutions the Church undergoes, whatever crises emerge, the Church will survive and Christ remains King. Satan has already lost. Nihilism just isn’t true; it may dominate in the minds and hearts of men, but an error is an error no matter how prevalent it is. Secularism won’t last forever, even if it only comes to an end when Christ returns and establishes his kingdom.
All this is to say, don’t blackpill. In fact, it is your Christian duty to NOT blackpill. The three supernatural virtues are faith, hope, and charity. Don’t neglect hope.
With that, I wish you a wonderful season of Easter.
CHRISTUS SURREXIT!