To the beloved faithful of the Old Roman Apostolate

Carissimi

“Come back to the Lord your God; He is ever gracious and merciful, ever patient and rich in pardon, and when He threatens punishment, He is ready to forgive.” (Joel 2:13)

As the sacred season of Lent dawns upon us once more, Holy Mother Church calls us to a deeper conversion, a turning of heart and mind toward the Lord who has loved us with an everlasting love. The ashes imposed upon our foreheads today are not mere symbols of penitence, but an urgent reminder of the truth that modern man, in his folly, strives to forget: “Remember, O man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.” The world would have us believe that we are masters of our destiny, architects of our own fulfillment, yet here, at the very threshold of Lent, the Church strikes at our pride and reminds us that all flesh is grass, and all human glory fades as quickly as the flower of the field (cf. Is. 40:6-7).

But the Church does not call us to despair; rather, she bids us lift our eyes to the merciful Father who “desires not the death of the sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live” (Ez. 33:11). Lent is not a season of sterile self-discipline or mere external observance, but an interior renewal, a return of love for Love. Indeed, our fasts, our mortifications, our prayers, and our alms ought to spring from this one central truth: God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn. 4:19), and we must love Him in return with the total gift of ourselves.

The Love that Fasts, the Love that Gives

Our Lord warns us in the Gospel for this holy day: “Where your treasure-house is, there your heart is too.” (Matt. 6:21). These words strike at the heart of the spiritual malaise of our times. The modern world teaches us to treasure ease, comfort, pleasure, and self-indulgence; our culture exalts those who accumulate wealth, who indulge their passions, who take pride in their self-sufficiency. And yet, Christ reminds us that these things are but dust and ashes. If we set our hearts on the transient, we will ourselves become transient; if we set our hearts on Heaven, we will be made worthy of Heaven.

Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving are not arbitrary Lenten disciplines, but the very means by which we tear our hearts away from earthly attachments and anchor them firmly in God. St. Augustine, reflecting on these three pillars, observes:

“Let no one think that fasts alone, or prayers alone, or alms alone are sufficient. Fasting without mercy is barren; prayer without fasting is weak; almsgiving without piety is vain. If one desires to fly to God, he must have two wings: fasting and almsgiving, animated and strengthened by prayer.”¹

In fasting, we imitate Our Lord’s own forty days in the wilderness, subduing the flesh and restoring order to the soul. St. Basil the Great calls fasting ‘the weapon of the spirit,’² for it strengthens us against temptation, trains us in virtue, and makes us more docile to divine grace. The Church, in her maternal wisdom, requires only the most modest fasts of us, yet how many today find even these unbearable! Let us rather embrace our fasting with joy, as a means of proving our love, for “the true measure of love is to love without measure” (St. Bernard of Clairvaux).³

Almsgiving, likewise, is the concrete manifestation of charity. Our self-denial must not end with ourselves, but spill over in love toward our neighbor, particularly the poor, the suffering, and the forgotten. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that “it is better to give alms from what one has denied himself than merely from one’s abundance, for in this a man shows greater love”.⁴ Let our sacrifices be generous, not reluctant; let our giving be joyful, not constrained.

The Joy of the Saints in Self-Denial

The world scoffs at the idea that renunciation can be joyful. And yet, this is the paradox of the Gospel: the one who loses his life for Christ’s sake will find it (cf. Matt. 16:25). The saints, who loved most, understood this best. St. Francis of Assisi, who stripped himself of all worldly goods, called Lady Poverty his bride and rejoiced in suffering for Christ. St. Thérèse of Lisieux, though hidden in the obscurity of the cloister, found in her “little way” of self-denial the most profound happiness:

“When one loves, one does not calculate. One does not say, ‘I will go this far and no further.’ One loves as much as possible, and even more than one can.”⁵

Let us, then, not fast with a gloomy countenance (cf. Matt. 6:16), as the hypocrites do, but with the joy of those who know they are making a gift of themselves to their Beloved. Let us not pray as a mere formality, but with the fervor of those who long for Heaven. Let us not give alms reluctantly, but as those who see in the poor the very face of Christ (cf. Matt. 25:40).

A Season to Love Much

Our Lord commended the woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee, saying, “her many sins have been forgiven, because she has loved much.” (Luke 7:47). Lent is given to us so that we may love much—first and foremost by returning to God the love we owe Him, but also by pouring ourselves out in love for our neighbor.

The Baltimore Catechism reminds us that “to receive the Sacrament of Penance worthily we must have sorrow for our sins, a firm purpose of amendment, confess our sins to a priest, and be willing to perform the penance imposed”.⁶ Lent is the time to rekindle this penitential spirit. It is the moment to renounce our sins not halfheartedly, but with a firm resolve to turn from them and embrace holiness.

Let this Lent be for us a season of true reorientation. Let us cast off tepidity and half-measures. Let us prove our love by our deeds—by fasting, by prayer, by alms, and above all, by a joy that manifests to the world that true happiness is found not in self-indulgence, but in self-gift.

As we journey toward Easter, may our sacrifices, undertaken with love, bear abundant fruit in holiness. And may the Blessed Virgin, who stood steadfast beneath the Cross, obtain for us the grace to love as she loved, to suffer as she suffered, and to rejoice as she rejoices forever in the presence of the Risen Christ.

With my blessing and prayers,

I.X.

Brichtelmestunensis
Feria II infra Hebd Quinquagesimæ MMXXV A.D.

1. St. Augustine, Sermon 207: On Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving.
2. St. Basil the Great, Homily on Fasting.
3. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermon on Love.
4. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 32, a. 5.
5. St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Story of a Soul.
6. Baltimore Catechism No. 3, Q. 777.

Oremus

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