“The life of a monk ought to be a continuous Lent,” Benedict writes in chapter 49 of his Rule for Monasteries. But since few have the strength for this, he writes, during Lent itself the monks should “add to the usual measure of [their] service something by way of private prayer and abstinence from food or drink.”
How are you doing with your Lenten resolve?
Martin Luther wasn’t talking about Lent per se, but about his religious observance in general when he wrote,
When I was a monk I was unwilling to omit any of the prayers, but when I was busy with public lecturing and writing I often accumulated my appointed prayers for a whole week, or even two or three weeks. Then I would take a Saturday off, or shut myself in for as long as three days without food and drink, until I had said the prescribed prayers. This made my head split, and as a consequence I couldn’t close my eyes for five nights, lay sick unto death, and went out of my senses. (Tappert, Luther’s Works, vol. 54, p. 85.)
Luther eventually fell three months behind and gave up altogether.
Happy Lent, everyone. Four weeks to go.
awr
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