Lent 2021 – Facing the Spiritual Virus

Vaccines are arriving! More and more people are being vaccinated- over 50 million across the country, and it can come none too soon. There is real hope now that hospitalizations and deaths will continue to trend downward, lives will be saved, and we can achieve some degree of normality. But there is another kind of virus at work, a spiritual virus that we call original sin and all the effects of that first sin down through the ages from the time of Adam and Eve right up to the present. We are all infected whether we know it or not. Its presence may not be that obvious. Like COVID – 19, we might seem to be a-symptomatic, but we are carrying it nonetheless and spreading it. It is easy to be tested for COVID – 19 just a nasal swab and a lab report that tells us we are positive or negative. But there is no test for the moral virus that we contract. It is a disease of the soul which weakens our relationship with God and one another. Over time if ignored or neglected, it can lead to serious illness or worse. These next 40 days of Lent is the time when the church calls us to search our souls and detect just where that infection lies, to ask ourselves where I have sinned, gone astray, and lost my way. There is no test for this virus we can take other than the one we administer to ourselves. It’s called an examination of conscience, a thorough, honest look at what I have done and what I have failed to do in following Jesus and the teachings of the church. Receiving ashes is a public sign that I am a sinner and among those who need to be healed and forgiven. There is no pride to be taken in this symbolic ritual. If anything, it should be cause for embarrassment or even shame that I have missed the mark and chosen the wrong path time and again. It is also a sign of my resolve to take these 40 days seriously and by prayer, fasting, and good works make some progress, if ever so little, toward wholeness and spiritual health. We take upon ourselves this Lenten effort not alone but in the company of other pilgrims on their way to Easter, especially our fellow Vincentians. Despite the limitations placed on us by Covid 19 however, we can connect to one another either in person, virtually, by phone or internet. Our Lenten journey will benefit by knowing that others are also doing the spiritual testing and taking the necessary Lenten prescriptions that bring about healing and wholeness such as daily prayer, the sacraments, corporal works of mercy, etc. The church, following a tradition that is centuries old, tells us that 40 days is time enough. Where we are on Easter Sunday will tell us whether that is true for each of us. Fr. Jerry Ringenback
Diocesan Spiritual Advisor