At the Mass for Ash Wednesday at Mount Calvary Catholic Church, the pastor, Fr. Albert Scharbach, riffed on the old saying "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."  He explained that the saying implies that we can compartmentalize our lives and pretend that we can ignore the demands of the Gospel "for a time" without it being relevant to the rest of our lives.  He noted that serious Catholics would never subscribe to such an attitude.  But he then went on to describe how many serious Catholics, without realizing it, do subscribe to the saying "What happens in Lent, stays in Lent."  Like those who subscribe to the Vegas version, we compartmentalize our spiritual lives, pretending that Lent is only "for a time."

And that's unfortunate, because Lent is not supposed to be "for a time."  It is supposed to be a path to a permanent conversion, a permanent increase in holiness, a permanent new path for our lives.  This past Sunday Rose and I had occasion to attend the Traditional Latin Mass in Camarillo, CA.  In Traditional Catholicism, as well as in the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, there is a short three week "pre-Lenten" season in which Catholics prepare for Lent.  I think the rest of the Latin Church has lost a great treasure by removing this pre-Lent from the calendar.  Anyway, the priest noted that Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts until the day we die!  In other words, while we certainly and joyfully celebrate the great feast of Easter, we should not compartmentalize our lives by the liturgical seasons.  Rather, they should each have a permanent place in our lives, and should lead to permanent changes in how we live them.