By Leon Bent –
During Lent, we do well to recall that we are engaged in a great and dramatic battle for our souls. The opening prayer for Ash Wednesday Mass makes use of the image of a military “campaign” and mentions weapons and battle: “Grant, O Lord that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint”. The First Sunday of Lent lays out the tactics of the devil in terms of temptation, and relates how we must be prepared to refute and resist such things.
Every ancient prayer manual and guide to spirituality until about fifty years ago had at least one large section devoted to what was known as Pugna Spiritualis (spiritual battle or spiritual warfare). In more recent decades, many spiritual books have either downplayed or completely deleted references to spiritual battle or spiritual warfare.
Persevering through mid-Lent is one of the great spiritual challenges of Catholic living. The initial enthusiasm for penance and self-reform has waned, and Easter is still on the far horizon. Bellies growl and bodies itch in the absence of food, drink, and other pleasures we have given up. In turmoil we ask ourselves, “What is the point of fasting anyway?”
The answer comes directly from the liturgy itself. In the Fourth Preface for Lent, we pray to God the Father, “By this bodily fast you suppress our vices, elevate our minds, bestow strength and rewards.” Depriving the body of physical pleasantries provides the soul with spiritual benefits. Freed from worldly desires, we focus more intensely on overcoming sin and moving toward the Lord and the graces that the Paschal mystery promises.
In his magnificent exegesis of Lent in The Church’s Year of Grace, the German theologian Pius Parsch likens Lent to spiritual warfare. Lent is a war between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, to be sure. But it is simultaneously fought on another related front: within the soul of each of us. On this battlefield, the combatants are our higher and lower natures, that is, the spirit – the supernatural life of the soul – and the flesh – human nature weakened by original sin (cf. Galatians 6:8).
Parsch reads the Lenten Preface in light of this battlefield and our Lord’s injunction: we cannot serve both God and Mammon. The latter includes the vices of certain sensual pleasures referred to in the Lenten Preface. It is the very purpose of Lent to root these out. Jesus’ own struggle with Satan in the desert – read annually on the First Sunday of Lent – provides a model for our own battle. As Jesus would explain later in his ministry, Satan and sin can only be cast out by the combination of prayer and fasting.
The will, then, is the all important weapon in our Lenten fast, but in itself it is incapable of total victory. The will must be fortified by prayer and purified by sacramental Confession. The graces received will not vaporize the enemy – temptation toward sin or toward breaking our resolutions made for God. Instead, they aid our struggle, and make victory possible.
When we fast our bodies pray along with our souls and learn that only heavenly bread can satisfy our deepest desires. In the words of Pope Benedict, the “true fast is thus directed to eating the ‘true food,’ which is to do the Father’s will (cf. Jn. 4:34).” Easter is the ultimate triumph of the Father’s will. Our joy from sharing in that triumph is only enhanced when we offer the risen Lord our victory on the battlefield of Lent.
Mercy is a tactic of battle. Satan would “love” nothing more than for us to hold grudges and intensify our divisions through pride. He would prefer that we despair of God’s mercy or despair that, it is even possible for us to live apart from sinful habits. Thus mercy is a tool of tactical genius; it breaks the cycle of negativity and sin and robs Satan of victories and of souls, snatching them back from the downward spiral of anger and despair.
Mercy does not mean saying that God doesn’t mind what you do. Rather, it means that saying that God loves you, despite your sins and is extending to you, a way out of the misery your sins have caused.
Grace and mercy are marvellously extended to us, but it is repentance that opens the door to these gifts. Repentance, too, is a battle tactic, because it embraces God’s daring move to break the satanic cycle of anger and despair. Repentance (metanoia) most literally means to come to a new mind, to a new way of thinking. Repentance is accepting God as our general, and following His battle plans for our life. It is recognizing that sin is awful, but that grace and mercy are still extended to us and that, we ought to accept and depend upon them. By unlocking grace and mercy, repentance deals serious blows to satanic plans and powers. To repent is to engage in the battle on the right side of the war.
With each hunger pang we resist, and with each penitential act we perform, our chastened bodies cry out for physical comfort. The cries direct us to Easter, which provides the grace to conquer sin and live the life of the spirit. By directing our broken selves with a will steeped in grace, may we be found worthy of the fast our Lord undertook for our salvation.
Now, this gold nugget! Contrary to the modern spiritual approaches, Christianity has been a militant religion since its inception. Jesus was exposed to every kind of danger from the beginning. Herod sought His life. Satan tried to tempt Him in the desert. Many enemies plotted on all sides as He worked His public ministry, misrepresenting Him, levying false charges, and conspiring to sentence Him to death (eventually succeeding, though only for a moment).
And, this Final Flourish! The battle is on; the struggle is engaged in! To spiritual arms, one and all! Fight the good fight for the Lord!
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.