A further extract from the Archbishop's Lenten Pastoral for 1851 :
Enter at once into the spirit of this holy time by a strict conformity to the laws and ordinances of the Church. Commence that salutary practice of self-restraint and self-denial, which is the foundation of the Christian life. You know, Dearly Beloved, that where sin is, there is guilt - where guilt is, there is punishment. This is the law of reason and of the Gospel. In compliance with this law, our Holy Mother the Church ordains a solemn fast of forty days' duration from which none of her Children, without due cause, can claim exemption; that as all have sinned all may, in some degree, at least, do Penance. Even those happy souls, who still enjoy their baptismal innocence, are thus required to expiate their imperfections. A heavier duty, a more rigorous fast is not required from you, though you may be conscious that you have committed many grievous sins. We do not call upon you to become the subjects of remarks in your households by [making] extraordinary fasts; we do not require you to abstain from amusements which others may enjoy, or to devote a portion of each day to retirement, prayer, and spiritual reading, in addition to that which all are expected to give at this holy time. But, Dearly Beloved, we do exhort you not to adopt a course of life, which in reality the world expects from you; for the world, with all its follies, has a regard for inconsistency in conduct. Hitherto you have been, perhaps, the solitary exception in a virtuous household. Now, you have the example of all your Brethren in Christ to encourage you - the benefit of their prayers to avail you.
Consider what wonderful assistance you will derive from the co-operation of all the just throughout the world. You believe in the Communion of Saints. You believe that we are aided by the prayers and good works of each other. Now all the faithful ascend the Holy Mountain, to pray with the chaste Virgins, the fervent solitaries who have left all things to abide with the beloved of their souls in holy retirement. [1] Behold, even now they pray, that the heaviest judgment may be averted from you, a hardened and impenitent heart. Do not, then, lose courage; take up the exercises of this holy time; observe the fast; renounce the amusements of a vain world. We entreat you, Dearly Beloved, to comply with your duties in the name of our dear Saviour Jesus Christ. Behold, He endured for you a protracted fast of forty days, and can you refuse to submit to the ordinances of this holy time, relaxed as they have been to the utmost, to meet your abhorrence of mortification and of self-restraint? Follow your Saviour throughout the stages of His Sacred Passion, from the Garden of Gethsemane to the Cross of Calvary; bear in recollection that for the expiation of your sins, He wept tears of blood in the excess of mental suffering; He submitted to the scourge and stretched forth His hands to receive the nails that fastened Him to the Cross; recollect all that your dear Saviour endured for you, and then you will take up with cheerfulness the obligations imposed upon you during the term of Lent.
Again, Dearly Beloved, we would not have you to be of the number of those who observe the fast of Lent but neglect the exercises of a religious life, who abstain from meats in compliance with the law of the Church, but omit obedience to the salutary law which insists on the frequentation of the Sacraments at the time appointed. Dearly Beloved, consider the foolish inconsistency of such conduct.
The holy season, the accepted time has once more returned, the days of salvation invite you to an easy repentance. Be not duped by these excuses which in former years rendered this invitation futile in your regard. You dread the difficulties of a virtuous life : be not disheartened. These difficulties like the apparent steepness of the distant hill will be found in reality of small account. God will give you especial graces to enable you to surmount them. Thousands have experienced this. That holy Bishop of Carthage, St Cyprian, acknowledges that whilst he walked in darkness, he considered as impossible what God had promised - a new heart and a new spirit - so that a man should be enabled to rise out of his corruption and shake off habits formed by long use and custom "Blessed be God," he exclaims, "a heavenly light shone upon my soul as soon as the filth of my former life was washed away; what was heretofore closed became open; what I doubted about was made certain; what I thought hard, nay impossible, now seemed easy and delightful." [2]
And because in former years, your good resolutions were frustrated by your procrastination until the end of Lent, or until the next visit of your Pastor, commence your preparation for Confession forthwith. As regards the case of one long absent from this duty, the best preparation is to go without delay, and to present himself to the ministers of God.
Finally, Dearly Beloved, bear in mind the words of St Peter : "The Lord deals patiently for your sakes, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance." [3] The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night, wherefore, Dearly Beloved, be diligent that you may be found undefiled and unspotted to him in peace, and account the long suffering of the Lord unto salvation.
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