Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-03-01
Spires OF THE SPIRIT
The Lure of Lent
BY DIR. FREDERICK BROWN HARRIS
Chaplain Of the United States Senate


suggested for a happy life
was the question, Are you
contented when you are
alone?" The reaction to that
query reveals much = very
much. With all the stimula-
ton Of other personalities re-
moved, with all the excite
ment Of the give-and-take of
human contacts which ordi-
narily crowd about one elm
mated, in a desert of silence
with no other sound save the
ticking Of the. clock. can you
enjoy just being with your
self? Or do you crave to
plunge into the whirl and
fashion about you Just to get
away from q self that re-
Dukes you when you are
alone?
Now. what you really think
Of yourself in the solitude
depends largely upon the
ideals you have hung like
stars In your sky. The poet
reminds US that our reach
must exceed our grasp. or
what's heaven for?
Even in church q religious
leader whom the centuries
have called "The Pharisee"
looked upon another man,
who also had gone up to the
temple to pray. as q despised
transgressor, much beneath
himself in spiritual stature.
The Pharisee measured him
self with the one he dubbed
"this sinner" With that
yardstick he felt so superior
that he strutted about like a
pouter pigeon. But Jesus.
sensing the actual moral
dimensions Of the two, put
His approval. not on the one
who boasted In self-exalta-
ton, but on the one who
bowed low In penitence.
What O Stagnant prayer
was that Of. the Pharisee! II
thank thee, God, that I am
not as other men," Well has
1t been said, THE man who
Is as good as he wants to
be. viii never get any better"
Such q man tries to bring
even God down to his own low
level. He Is not going any
where be cause he has
reached his mean goal. He
has caught up with his little
self. he has got his growth,
and he is a spiritual pigmy.
The time for a spiritual
inventory, called Lent, is pri-
marily a discipline in lifting
ones sights. A great college
president kept telling gen.
erations of students to stay
persistently in the presence
Of the best in each great
realm Of value. That is an
antidote against the distaste-
full dread of being left alone.
Stay in the presence of the
best. Our only hope for ex-
tending the reaches and
ranges Of our own life is to
be constantly challenged by
a standard higher than our
selves. st. Paul knew that
when he said to the early
church, They that measure
themselves by themselves are
not wise"
The lure Of Lent is to stay
in the presence of the best.
1t is an invitation to lift
what We are to a higher level
that will shame and con-
denim us. Phillips Brooks,
who looms more and more
as the greatest spiritual per-
sonality of the last 100 years,
summons us all to the yearly
observance of Lent in these
searching words; Let us not
sweep through the whole year
in buoyant exultation as if
there were no shame upon us,
nothing to repent of, nothing
for us to fear. BY some small
symbols let us bear witness
that we know something of
the solemnity of living, the
dreadfulneSS OF sin, the
struggle of repentance. Our
symbols may be very feeble;
our sackcloth may be lined
with silke and our ashes
scented with the juice of
roses: but let us do some
thing that shall break the
mere monotony of compla-
cent living"
Then the great preacher
pleads: For a few weeks let
those obtrusive worldlinesses
which block the doors of our
1. - hall 1ak