Tra la! It's Lent! This-es and Thats

Station Churches.

Today's station church is Santa Sabina on the Aventine hill, general house of the Order of Preachers.  Traditionally, the Holy Father opens Lent with a procession there from Sant'Anselmo (the Benedictine Abbey across the street) and there celebrates Ash Wednesday Mass.  This year, quite suddenly, the plans changed, and in just a couple of hours Pope Benedict will celebrate Ash Wednesday Mass at St. Peter's, thus allowing more of the faithful to attend his last public Mass.  Sad.  There will be few students in my classes this afternoon, as many will go to bid our pope farewell.

I did actually make it up the Aventine this morning, though, along with all from the North American College, and various others, for the beginning of the Lenten station church pilgrimage, at 6:45.  One of the many things I want to do for Lent is to visit the station churches, which I actually successfully completed once.  Every year, come Ash Wednesday, I'm gung-ho to perform all kinds of penances, but by the end of the first week (Ember week) or so, some of those penances seem to fall by the wayside, which is, I guess, kind of like New Year's resolutions which seem to vanish by the middle of January.  Anyway, at least for Ash Wednesday I work really hard to get in as many of those penances as I've so cheerfully adopted.

This is leading up to one of my Lenten resolutions which may fall away sooner than the others, and which regards this blog.  I was thinking it would be good thing to write something here every day, as I had originally intended when I started here.  But, realistically, I know that I won't achieve that goal.  So, as an encouragement for me in my reading, I thought I could perhaps just post a citation, something interesting or thought-provoking I come across in my studies or spiritual reading every day this Lent.  Then, if I find time, I might write about it as well.

So, for today, a quote from St. Alphonsus Liguori's True Spouse of Jesus Christ:

The following are the means of performing our actions well:
1. The first means is to preserve during the discharge of your duties a lively sense of the presence of God, that thus every act may be worthy of his divine eyes.
2. The second means is, to perform every work as if it were the only duty you had to fulfil. When at prayer, let your sole care be to pray well; when you say the divine Office, direct all your attention to the devout recitation of it; when engaged in any employment enjoined by obedience, your sole concern should be to discharge it well. Think of nothing but the duty in which you are occupied. To examine, during the time of prayer, how you will execute a certain command, or how you will direct a certain work, or to reflect on the means of performing any other duty, is a temptation of the enemy. " When," says Father M. Avila, " any unseasonable thought enters your mind, say: God does not will that I think at this moment on such a subject; and therefore it is not useful for me to reflect upon it: when he commands me, I shall attend to it."
3. The third means is, to perform every action as if it were the last of your life. St. Anthony frequently recommended this means to his disciples. " In every work," says St. Bernard, "let each one say to himself: If I were about to die, would I do this?" 1 Would I do it in this manner ? Were this the last Mass that I should hear, with what devotion would I be present at it ? Were this the last Office that I should recite, with what attention would I say it ! Were this my last Communion or my last meditation, with what fervor would I perform it !

Now, though, I should go to class, and attempt to listen well.