Lent

Penance seeks to promote the wholeness of life

By Fr. Keith Clark

	A Lenten series on Reconciliation

"Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel." Many of us heard these words addressed to us when we received ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday. Those words are an invitation to repentance, to do penance. Repentance or penance comes from the Greek notion of metanoia, whose root meaning is "to change one's mind upon reflection."

For most of my life I thought that Lent had something to do with jelly beans. During Lent for as long as I can remember, I was taught to give up something as a penance. I like jelly beans, and it was just a matter of course that during Lent I didn't eat jelly beans. But I made up for that 40 days of deprivation on Easter Sunday! I have a friend who annually smokes his last cigar on Shrove Tuesday and doesn't have another cigar until Easter Sunday. We both "did something for Lent."

	L e n t
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A couple of years ago I finally outgrew my childhood notion of what Lent was for. It dawned on me that perhaps Lent was not a time to stop doing something, but it might be a time to start doing something. Perhaps it was a time to change my mind upon reflection about the way I want to live for the rest of my life. At the same time I discovered that I had Type 2 diabetes, so I didn't stop eating jelly beans for Lent; during Lent I stopped eating them and other sweets for the rest of my life.

Penance is taking a step toward wholeness of life. Lent is a time in which we are invited to take that step. There may be parts of our lives which we would like to put together differently, not just for 40 days, but for the rest of our lives. Maybe we'd like to change an attitude we have. Lent is a good time to start that change.

An attitude is a decision I have made about the way life, or some part of life, is or ought to be. I may or may not be aware of some of my attitudes. But whether or not I am aware of them, they influence my behavior. I may, for instance, have decided that I am entitled to the good things I receive. The behavior that stems from that decision is taking for granted the good things I have received, rather than being grateful for them.

Attitudes are quite complex. They have a cognitive component and an emotional component. New information can address the cognitive component of my attitude, but only new experience can address the emotional component.

For a long time I had a bad attitude toward the service departments of automobile dealerships. I had decided that they are out to rip me off. My attitude stemmed from a bad experience I had with one dealership. I didn't realize that I had my bad attitude until I realized that every time I needed to have my car serviced, I tensed up as I drove my car into the garage at an automobile dealership. No matter how friendly the person was who served me, I didn't like him or her. I was suspicious and on my guard.

A friend of mine took over management of an automobile dealership. He prided himself on quality and integrity of service. So I knew in my head that all automobile dealerships were not out to rip me off. That new information addressed the cognitive component of my attitude. But that new information didn't change my attitude. I needed some new experience which could address the emotional component of my attitude.

Once when I brought my car to a service department, the people there fixed what was wrong and because it was such a minor repair they didn't charge me anything at all! This was a new experience! My attitude began to change.

I don't have to wait for someone else to supply the new experience I need in order to address the emotional component of my attitude. I can choose behavior that will give me a new experience. If, for instance, I believe I am entitled to the good things in life I receive, I can begin to thank people for what they do for me. I might even thank them for the good things they do that don't benefit me directly. The good things they do make our world a better place. My thanking them will give me new experience. A long time ago, the psychologist O. Hobart Mowrer wrote, "It's easier to act yourself into a new way of thinking than it is to think yourself into a new way of acting." I think he was right.

Perhaps Lent will have its intended effect on us if we don't just "do something for Lent," but rather if we start doing during Lent something which will lead to greater wholeness in all the rest of our lives.

Gratitude is a good place to start. Thank as many people as you can each day for the good things they do, whether those things benefit you directly or not. Your spouse. The clerk at the grocery store. Your parents. Your children. Your employees. Your employer. Your co-workers. Your pastor. Your parishioners. We will not only be gaining greater wholeness in our own lives, we will be contributing something important to the lives of others.

(Fr. Clark is the director of Monte Alverno Retreat Center, Appleton.)