A Dominican friar and a Jesuit walk into a bar. The bartender approaches them and asks them, “Which of the religious orders is better, the Dominicans or the Jesuits?” The friar laughs and responds, “Well, the Dominicans were founded to confront the Albigensians, and the Jesuits were founded to confront Protestants. Now, let me ask you something. When was the last time you met an Albigensian?”
This joke, often used in Dominican-friendly circles, can often be misleading. Yes, St. Dominic founded the Order of Preachers, the Dominicans, in 1216 to combat the heresy put forward by the Albigensians. Yes, many Catholics do not even know about this subsect group of the Cathars from the 13th century. However, I found that certain beliefs from the Albigensians are alive and well, especially during the season of Lent.
The Albigensians believed in the classic gnostic dualism whereby the body is bad and the spirit is good. They believed that the soul must leave the evils of the body and ascend by taking on austere penances. These penances included extreme fasting, mortification of the body and even abstinence from sex for married individuals. Now, while I am grateful that full-blown Albigensian practices are not done at this university, I want to caution the faithful on how they take on their penances this Lent.
Having come from a previous assignment in parish ministry and now in college ministry, I have found these predispositions in the church of hatred towards the physical, natural world, especially our bodies. More and more people hate their bodies, and they are relieved when Lent comes every year because they see the Church validating their self-hatred. Some faithful even see their bodies as the source of all evil and the instrument of their sins.
They must, therefore, punish their bodies and purify their souls by taking on penances such as cold showers or sleeping on the floor. Now, these two penances are not bad in themselves, but if you want to take on a penance of the flesh, I beg you first to ensure you enter this Lenten journey with the right frame of reference. The question that all of us must ask is a question of “why?” Why do we take on penances during Lent?
You may be tempted to say that you do your penances to prove to the Lord how much you love God. We approach Lent as if we are approaching the Lord’s prize counter with our penance award tickets, waiting for our prizes of grace. We start every Lent with the same presumption.
We presume upon, even demand the mercy and generosity of God. “I must have more austere penance if I want to get even more grace.” We may even take on multiple penances to curb the passions of our bodies so that our souls can finally be free of the temptations of this world. This economic view of grace did not work for the Albigensians and will not work for you.
Grace is not something we demand but something we can only dispose of ourselves to receive. Our penances, therefore, prepare us for the possibility of receiving more grace from a generous God who wants us to flourish and desires us to receive grace upon grace (John 1:16). God gives us this grace not only because God is love (1 John 4:16) but also because He wants us to be united with Him.
He wants us so badly that He gave His only begotten Son so that we might forever live with Him (John 3:16). Taking on more penances for Lent will not afford you the Lentiest Lent that you ever Lented. However, Lenten penances can and will curb our appetites and reorder our desires toward the fundamental desire of our hearts, union with God.
Greater union with God is the purpose of our Lenten penances. For this union to be more complete, our desires and other faculties of the soul need purification. Penances are how we can cooperate with the purifying work of the Holy Spirit. By taking on a Lenten penance, we cooperate with the grace of the Holy Spirit to heal the disordered passions and thoughts.
Therefore, I implore the faithful: please do not be an Albigensian seeing this Lent in demanding, dualistic terms. Rather, see this Lent and your Lenten penances as an opportunity to cooperate, heal and unite.