The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1955-03-04
Just Among Ourselves
Passing Comment Considered or lneensidersss

son OF Lent opens win the words of Our LORD,
When you fast be not the hypocrtes sad"
Lent is time of penance, time of undergoing
hardships, time of mourning time of sorrow.
But is not time of sadness
To be sad is to be downeast But the person
who does penance is energetic and alert in his
work He is not moody depressed, gloomy. long OF
face, He is not merely indulsing in fit of the
blues He is striving manfully TO counterfeit his
tendency to sim and to make advance in yirtuous
living.
Sadness is sterile thing 1t is a kind Of self
pity, II is not the purposeful bearing of the Cross;
it is groaning distress, wish 20 be rid of the
Cross. Or sadness may be.--as in the case Of the
hypocrite whom Our Lord coDdemns.-s kind OF
public notice to others that one is bearing up noby
under crushing burdens; il is bid for attention;
it is cheap plea for the admiration of the multi
tude. Such sadness is always mere show; il is, as
Our Lord named it, sheer hypocrisy
1t is very important to draw the clean line of
distinction between sadness and sorrow. In many
points these two things not only different, but
opposite. For striking illustration of the con-
tras between sadness and sorrow, consider this
find nothing inconguous in the title, "0ur
Sorrowful Mother" but we find completely in
congruous and even little irreYerent the title,
Our Sad Mother" For know that the Queen
Of Sorrows is never merely sad.
Our Lord, in the Sermon on the Mount (Which
is all that many people who call themselves
Christians know of the teachings of Christi says,
Blessed are they that mourn He definitely does
not say blessed are they who sad" There
is no blessednekS promised for being downhearted
gloomy depressed moody, bitter of spirit, hope
less dull, selfcentered in nursing ones griefs. All
these things are types of sadness; none Of them
has the dignity Of mourning or sorrow.
Sadness is the very contradiction of happiness
II is quite impossible to think of sad person as
happy. But and happiness 90 hand in
hand person, for instance, who has been alb
solved from serious sin is happy in the recovery Of
grace; yet he does not therefore to be sorry
that he committed the sins which have now been
taken away. Two devoted friends who have been
recohciled after grieVors quarrel are happy but
they also steadfastly sorry Tor the unkindnesS
or injustice that marked theif separation.
The Blessed Mother, standing with the holy
women and ST. John beneath the Cross was delug-
ed with sorrow-a greater sorrow than any mere
mortsl has ever borne yet II cannot be Justly said
that she was unhappy Our Lord HIMSELF at the
beginning of His Passion said, my soul is sor.
rOwful. even unto death" BLt that same human
soul OF Christ was for an instant deprived
of the Beatifc Vision which rendered il perfectly
happy.
Lent, then is season for mourning and sorrow
together with serenity and happiness of soul. II
is neither dull time, nor gloomy time. II is
bright time. Nor is il difficult season TO be
doggedly endured in view of easier times ahead
II is a time Of training, of schooling, of learning
the right way to live, that its spirit and much of
its works, may be carried into the rest of the year
II is not season of hardship TO be got through
somehow; il is a season Of glad opportunity TO be
welcomed and used for lasting profit,
onV real unhanDineSS that ran affliCt Chris
iian is the unhappiness of sin Lent inspires man
TO get rid of sn-mmediatey, II srs the Catho
lie to make instant and earnest use of the sacra'
ment of Penance for the season of penance natural
ly ceners the thoughts Of the faithful upon the
sacrament of the same name. The purpose of every
Lenten practice and devotion is the purpose Of
the sacrament of Penance.-that is, TO get souls
free from SIM and to keep them free, and to ad.
vance in the growth of Christian virtue.
And certainly this great purpose has nothing
sad or gloomy about it, On the contrary, il is pur-
pose 10 stif the soul TO glad and willing effort II is
thing heareninp, not depressing II is hopeful,
not despairng; II is full Of drive and energy, not a
thing listless or dull,
True we think earnestly in this time upon the
sulferings of Our Lord. We make the Sorrowful
Way of the Cross We contemplate the terrible
mysteries of the Passion We mediate upon Christ
crueifed We follow the dark treason of Judas,
and the disappointing weakness of the other
Apostles who abandoned Christ and call fled away "
We consider own fallen and traitor lives.
We lament the neglicenceS ant the offences which
express our own active part in aHlcting and cru
cifyna Our Saviour.
But in all this sorrow all this mourning, there
is not iota of mere sadness Our sorrow Is fruit
fu in resolution; our lamentng is filled with high
purpose; our regret Is not an idle emotion, but
rather powerful and active force for amendment
and atonement We are not like the Gentiles who
have no hope but like loving children who now
realize their deficiencies md are in deep sorrow
determined that these evil things shall cease to
be. Out Of the profound Lenten sorrow is born the
bright glory of amendment
In a day when sadness hoda the world in thrall
when, despite the truInphs of science and the
boasts of enlightenment all mankind is oppressed
with fears threats, gloomy forebodng, it is i'm
portan above all else that the children of the Faith
should instruct the world by noble example in the
lessons Of Christian sorrow Ours is the task o
showing where true peace abdes, where true hap
pinass is born; of showing that there is Deatf
which gives Life, and Sorrow that brings Jo'