LONG BEFORE I became Catholic, even while a nonpracticing Protestant, I found that the practice of self-denial during Lent was compelling and overwhelmingly positive.
Modern men, who lack nothing in their bodily needs, instead find themselves constantly dissatisfied. This is the contradiction of the Enlightenment: Man conquers the world but loses his own self. Reflecting Our Lord's forty-day fast in the desert, the Season of Lent asks the faithful to embrace poverty — at least a little — but the reward is paradoxically joy.
Lent is perhaps the most appropriate time of year for extensive spiritual study and penance, but a priest once told me that this is the time of year where the faithful are most likely to fall — and to rise again.
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