As I write this column, we are a little more than halfway through Lent. It is about this time of Lent when we need a pick-me-up. Fasting is hard. Perhaps the consolations of Lenten prayer have grown faint, and the practical challenges of sacrificial almsgiving have become more formidable. What started as an incredible opportunity to draw closer to God now includes our own failures and the monotony of the mundane. Lent has become long. 

First, know that you are not alone. Every effort we make to reorient our lives more closely to God’s purpose will be met by the opposition of the enemy. Father David Schalk consistently offers a cautionary instruction: “persevere!” Perseverance in our efforts, especially without the satisfaction of our own success or accomplishment pleases God. And God, through His Church, gives us incredible helps to persevere. Beyond the grace-filled, obvious helps of the sacraments, especially Confession and the Holy Eucharist, we are able to meditate on the lives of our Redemptrix and Co-Redemptrix, Jesus and Mary, by praying the rosary, also known as the little Gospel. We can come to understand more fully the great love that God has for us by contemplating what Jesus suffered for our salvation in the Stations of the Cross or the accounts of the Passion from St. Gertrude, St. Bridgit, or Anne Catherine Emmerich. Knowing the great love we have received from God, the source of all love, can help motivate us to love our neighbor, especially our neighbor in need.

God also gives us through His Church a great feast every Lent. The feast is that of St. Joseph on March 19. St. Joseph demonstrated perseverance under the most challenging circumstances. His faith in God helped him resolve his doubts on learning that Mary was pregnant. He safely led his pregnant wife from Nazareth to Bethlehem where she delivered her baby in a stable. He protected his family from the wrath of King Herod and led them to Egypt where they lived in a foreign land until Herod died. And then he led them back. He worked as a carpenter, provided for his family, and modeled faith, righteousness, love, devotion, and perseverance. St. Joseph has special roles as the protector of the Church, and the terror of demons, both good reasons for invoking his intercession during Lent when we face the enemy’s opposition.

The Good News is still good. God loved us into existence. And even though we sinned, breaking our relationship with Him, He still loved us and sent His only begotten Son to die for our salvation. Jesus won the victory over sin and death and rose on the third day. He restores our relationship with God, offers us eternal life and asks us to respond, to join His followers and to participate in the Paschal mystery. He also asks us to share this good news with others.

In the time that remains, with the help of St. Joseph’s intercession, perhaps we could share this good news with someone that really needs to hear it. We may be able to more fully surrender to God, not only the outcome of the good news conversation but also those other parts of our lives that we anxiously want to control. In so doing, we may find that our own Lenten struggles are not so difficult, that we have increased bandwidth for fasting and almsgiving, and that we have new strength to journey from Holy Thursday through Calvary to the empty tomb.