The Heavenly Senses

Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that the devotion which makes us punish ourselves by this yearly fast, may also make us rejoice; to the end that, suppressing in ourselves all earthly affections, we may more easily receive Thy heavenly inspirations.  Through Christ Our Lord.  Amen.

You’ve got to give the Catholic Church credit; She has some of the most efficient, simple, and beautiful prayers the world has ever seen.  This one quoted above is the Collect for today’s Mass, Thursday, the Fourth Week of Lent.  Yes, it really has been that long – though it hardly seems so.  This Sunday will be Passion Sunday; the next will be Palm Sunday; and then Easter, in all of its boundless glories, will be upon us.

But back to the prayer.  It so nicely sums up what the Lenten disciplines are meant to accomplish.  Why go through all this suffering and mortify our bodies, denying them the licit pleasures they are so used to enjoying?  That “we may more easily receive … heavenly inspirations.”

How many times during the day, during the week, during the rest of the year when we aren’t being vigilant about keeping our lower impulses under control, does God try to communicate with us, only to find us spiritually drowsy and unable to hear Him?

A few days of fasting, a bit of hunger, and slight growl in the belly … and suddenly we can hear things more clearly; we can see things we didn’t see before.  

I still haven’t wrapped my head around this mystery.  I don’t know exactly why it is that the soul follows the body, and vice versa.  I only know that when I’m pampering myself, seeking comforts and avoiding crosses, I grow dull in spirit.  My spiritual senses are blocked, and I walk around (spiritually speaking) as though half-awake.

I’m actually kind of sad that Lent is ending.  Perhaps the spirit of Lent will endure beyond Easter this year … God knows we all need it.