Looking Forward to Lent, by Stephen P. White

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*Image: The monk Eadwine copying his Psalter from the Tripartitum Psalterium Eadwini, c. 1150 [Wren Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, England]. Eadwine was referred to as sriptorum princess [sic], “prince of scribes” (or “first among scribes”).

By Stephen P. White, The Catholic Thing, Feb. 23, 2023

Stephen P. White is executive director of The Catholic Project at The Catholic University of America and a fellow in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

NOTE: Be sure to tune in tonight to EWTN’s The World Over when the Papal Posse (host Raymond Arroyo, TCT editor-in-chief Robert Royal, and Fr. Gerald E. Murray) will meet to discuss further Vatican restrictions of the Traditional Latin Mass, new revelations in the ongoing sex-abuse scandal involving Jesuit artist Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik, and other noteworthy stories in the worldwide Church over the last week. Be sure to tune in at 8:00 PM Eastern, but also consult your local listings to confirm broadcast times and channels. (Segments are also usually available for viewing, shortly after their first appearance, on EWTN’s YouTube channel.)

 

I have been looking forward to the arrival of Lent. When I was a child, I used to dread the beginning of Lent. The discomfort and inconvenience of keeping up with whatever meager observances I had chosen for myself that year – giving up sweets or television or whatever – was just such a drag. When I was five or six, Ash Wednesday even fell on my birthday. Miserable.

As I got older, I came to realize just how nourishing and edifying the disciplines of Lent can be. As I told a friend recently, I have now reached the point where I actually look forward to Lent. It’s a built-in chance for a fresh spiritual start. It provides that extra shot of discipline and structure that does a body good. …

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