With Lent coming up, I find myself reminded of the many delightful, though disciplining, Christian obligations. It reminds me of the broader “rules of the Church”, which largely constitute Sacred Tradition. Here, I’ll highlight two Christian aspects where I find the discipline of the Church particularly fruitful—yes, fruitful even in the twenty-first century.
First, actively attending and participating in Mass every Sunday, something that many Catholics don’t even see the value of in their own faith. While it can certainly be exhausting as a college-student to sacrifice those much-needed hours of morning sleep on a Sunday or to carve out an hour from prime Sunday Homework Time to go to church, it’s still a crucial aspect of our faith. In going to Mass, we join our individual lives to the communal life of the Church, the Body of Christ. For me, this is a reminder that the deeply personal journey of faith and life is not one we walk alone, which is something in which my generation, in particular, can find solace. Furthermore, each Mass is an invitation to re-enter into the life of Jesus and our Christian challenge and commitment to follow him. Missing even one Mass because life is “busy” puts us at risk for becoming too busy for faith and God, in general. Ideally, God and faith are at the core of lives, but even if they are not in their entirety, planning one’s schedule around mandatory Sunday Mass attendance is a little wink from heaven that perhaps they should.
Second, prayer. At a service-heavy place like BC, it’s pretty obvious to see how acts of service can be done out of faith, but the other essential half of a well-rounded Catholic life is personal prayer, which I can definitely let fall by the wayside if not intentional about cultivation. I would liken this yin/yang prayer/service duality to a line from the Sunday Mass readings a few weeks ago: “If you choose […] trust in God, you too shall live; he has set before you fire and water” (Sir 15:15). Though in context fire and water are presented as a negative/positive option, we will momentarily consider them as positive, since both have been used as positive symbols of faith elsewhere in Scripture.
Fire is necessary in that its light illuminates our lives for ourselves and others to see, while its warmth sustains and gives us comfort. In one way, it is an analogy for acts of service, external actions that make Christ known to the world and to ourselves and help sustain our faith. On the other hand, water sustains the human being in a much more intimate way, yet we rely on it so deeply that several days without water is a death-sentence. So too with prayer. Prayer is the upkeep of our personal relationship with God, which intimately sustains the life of faith, without which we cannot fully maintain a service-oriented life. Thus, Lent provides us an opportunity to re-enter into our personal prayer practice and reset this faith foundation.
The personal discipline to live out these obligations can be severely lacking in the moment. Sometimes, these obligations feel like another task on the never-ending to do list. One tip I would offer is to reshape a lack of motivation as an opportunity for grace. If I currently have 20% of the will to do something I know I “should for God”, I try not to mentally “just get over myself” and keep doing the action. That end motivation is focused on me. Instead, praying for God to fill the remaining 80% of that willpower with grace returns my obligation to God and turns it into another opportunity for spiritual growth, which—I expect—was what was intended in the first place.
Noella D’Souza is a senior studying Chemistry with a minor in Medical Humanities. She’s is deeply devoted to BC Full Swing, Hillside Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, puns, and the Oxford Comma, in that order.
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