Lenten Practice Recalls Baptism

Fr. Bruno Barnhart, OSB Cam

The forty days of Lent recall the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert after his baptism. One way to understand the meaning of Lent is through its relation to baptism, both Jesus’ and our own. When, after fasting for those forty days, Jesus was tempted to turn stones into bread, he replied to the tempter with the scriptural words, “The human person shall not live by bread alone.” (Luke 4:4).

Jesus’ reply directs us to an inner source of life, beyond the external food on which we are accustomed to rely. And that deeper source of life, directly related to baptism—Jesus’ baptism and ours—is the new indwelling presence of the divine Spirit.

During our annual forty days in the desert of Lent we are urged to discover once again the spring of living water that was opened at our baptism. It is for this reason that we try to lessen our dependence upon external supports. Easter and baptism are inseparably joined.

It is at the Easter celebration that we are invited to share the experience of Jesus’ resurrection, a new birth with the newly baptized. From the same inner spring, now cleared and flowing more abundantly, the life and love of God pour forth into our world.

It is to this that our Lenten practice opens us.
 
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Saint Romuald’s Brief Rule

Sit in your cell as in paradise. Put the whole world behind you and forget it. Watch your thoughts like a good fisherman watching for fish. The path you must follow is in the Psalms—never leave it.

If you have just come to the monastery, and in spite of your good will you cannot accomplish what you want, take every opportunity you can to sing the Psalms in your heart and to understand them with your mind.

And if your mind wanders as you read, do not give up; hurry back and apply your mind to the words once more.

Realize above all that you are in God's presence, and stand there with the attitude of one who stands before the emperor.

Empty yourself completely and sit waiting, content with the grace of God, like the chick who tastes nothing and eats nothing but what his mother brings him.