Going beyond 'Little Black Book'

	Bishop Robert J. Banks

From what I see and hear, the Little Black Book is a best seller here in the Church of Green Bay. A good number of parishes have purchased large quantities of the book and then made them available for free to their parishioners.

Lent
• Lent-related articles  • 2003 Lenten Wish List (3/7 issue)  • Lenten rules (2/28 issue)

Then there are the individual members of our Diocese who have purchased the book on their own. People who have spoken to me about the Little Black Book say it has been a great way to get into the spirit of Lent.

So it seems that our efforts to focus on prayer during Lent as part of our Diocesan Stewardship Thrust have been successful. And a welcome side effect of the concentration on prayer is that for many of us Lent truly is a "joyful season," just as the liturgy tells us time after time.

Lent is also about something else that, at first glance, is less joyful: sin. We were reminded about that on Ash Wednesday, when the person applying the ashes to our forehead said, "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel." We heard the same advice again in Sunday's Gospel, "Repent, and believe in the Gospel."

I was also reminded that Lent was about sin by a recent conversation in one of our parishes. The person had an interesting twist on the subject. He was trying to figure out where sin was in his life. Since he was apparently a very faithful Catholic, he was not too worried about serious sin or major trouble with the Ten Commandments. But he seemed to suggest that he had some of the standard type weaknesses, like impatience.

His interesting twist on the subject was that since God made him that way, his impatience, for instance, could not be a sin. That led to an interesting conversation about the obligation to work on the weaknesses we might have in our lives.

The person, despite his interesting theory on sin, was on the right track for the Lenten Season. Lent is a time when we are invited to become more aware of the ways in which we have failed to live the Gospel or have not worked at living it more intentionally.

The most obvious way in which our parishes attend to this is by offering Lenten Reconciliation Services, inviting parishioners to "go to Confession" as part of their observance of Lent and preparation for Easter.

As individuals, we can use time during the whole season of Lent for a leisurely examination of conscience. I am not thinking of a guilt-laden examination that scrupulously searches every corner of our conscience for a mortal sin that must be confessed. This would be an examination by persons who know they are loved by God and rejoice in the confident self-assurance that they are faith-filled followers of Jesus.

To modify a phrase from our evangelical friends, "They have more than accepted Jesus as their personal savior." They are faith-filled members of Jesus' community of disciples.

This means the Holy Spirit is active in their lives, helping them to rejoice in God's forgiveness and work toward a life that is more and more in tune with the Gospel. But they are also conscious that they are not perfect. They experience in their lives some of the weaknesses that are part of fallen human nature. So they seek to become more conscious of how they can follow the Lord more closely.

When I was in the seminary, a regular part of the day's schedule was the "particular" examination of conscience. This was different from a general check to see whether any sin had been committed during the day. The particular examen was intended to work on some fault that needed attention. I must confess that it did not work too well for me. Not that I had no faults; it was just too hard to concentrate for those 15 minutes. My faults weren't that exciting, at least to me.

While some kind of daily examination of conscience is still a recommended practice for many men and women religious, I hesitate to suggest that for my readers. However, I do think some kind of fairly frequent examination of conscience could be a very helpful spiritual exercise. It might be to choose some area of your life that needs attention. Through the examination you would try with God's help to see how you could improve the situation.

In choosing an area for attention, rather than check the Ten Commandments, check to see whether the "fruits" of the Holy Spirit are as active as they could be in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Or does one of the capital sins have an undue influence in your life: pride, greed, envy, anger, lust, gluttony, or sloth?

Other authors, chiefly the Jesuits, suggest that the examen (daily, weekly, or monthly) focus on where and how God has been active in a person's life. You review in memory the events of the past period in order that God can help you see concrete instances of God at work or evil at work. Then you plan how with God's grace you can collaborate more effectively with God.

Today's spiritual authors stress that any kind of examination of conscience has to be seen as a form of prayer, rather than a checklist. It is a prayer that begins and ends with thanks to God for the gifts and blessing we have received, and especially that of being one of God's chosen. We thank God for the good things we have done and ask forgiveness for anything we regret.

Some people reading this might wonder why more is not said about the social issues that need to be addressed in a Catholic's life, but are so easily overlooked. It is my conviction that the more we become intentional about our spiritual lives the more likely we shall become concerned about our neighbors and about the Church's social agenda.

One last piece of advice: if you begin to practice a more frequent examination of conscience and find yourself becoming anxious that you might have sinned, stop doing those examinations. Stick to some other kind of prayer.