"All the way to Heaven is already Heaven," said St. Catherine of Siena, for those who follow Christ, who does not merely show the way but is the Way. It is also the case that all the way to Easter is already Easter for those who love the Lord, even in Lent. The Liturgy is an entrance into the mystery of eternity, which is why the feasts and fasts overlap and intersect. The Liturgy is not play-acting, and those who think it is tend to turn the drama of salvation into didactic melodrama, replacing holy water with sand, and staging self-conscious "liturgical dancing" instead of the solemn rituals of the rubrics, and so forth. The mystery we enter through the Liturgy is real enough, and does not need contrived mystification. Through ardent prayer the Church perceives real glimpses of Easter joy even in the midst of Lenten penance, just as Easter joy does not hide the Cross through which the triumph over death was won.

In Lent there are glimpses of Easter joy in two feasts we call "solemnities" because of their importance: the Feast of St. Joseph and the Feast of the Annunciation. In St. Joseph's "yes" to God when he wed Our Lady despite his bewilderment at the circumstances of her pregnancy, and in the Virgin Mary's "yes" to God despite her own incomplete comprehension of what the Lord was doing, are seen the way to enter into heavenly joy on earth and know that "peace which passes all understanding." These feasts do not interrupt the tone of Lent. They keep it on course toward the goal of all living.

Pride complicates life, and humility simplifies it, and total humility attains spiritual perfection. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta had a formula for this: "Just give God permission." Once a soul "gives God permission" in Confession and daily mortification of selfishness, God empowers the virtues to accomplish what he wants. The sublime consummation of this is in Our Lord's own obedience to his Father at the start of his holy Agony: "Not my will but Thine be done." St. Bernardine of Siena considered how this works, with special reference to the model of St. Joseph: "There is a general rule concerning all special graces granted to any human being. Whenever the divine favor chooses someone to receive special grace, or to accept a lofty vocation, God adorns the person chosen with all the gifts of the Spirit needed to fulfill the task at hand." Dying with the ineffable consolation of Our Lord and Our Lady at his deathbed, which is why he is the patron saint of a holy death each of us prays for, St. Joseph could claim the promise which each day of Lent both anticipates and already senses: "Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord."

Fr. George W. Rutler