Working Out Your Salvation

When you think of the season of Lent, what do you think of? If you studied your catechism well, then you know that the Cross and penance as we imitate Christ's sacrifice in the desert for forty days is the focus of the season.

We fast and do other penance to make reparations for our sins to Almighty God.

The focus of Lent is not to clean up the environment. Despite what they tell you at a certain Wilkes-Barre parish.

A nice practice to get into the habit of during this penitential season is the prayer of St. Ephraem, Doctor of the Church (d. 373). You should lay prostrate for a moment after each verse.

O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despondency, lust of power, and idle talk.

But grant rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to thy servant.

Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions, and not to judge my brother; for blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages.

Also one may be granted a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions if one prays the "En ego, O bone et dulcissime Jesu" before an image of Christ Crucified during a Friday in Lent.

English Version
Behold, O good and most sweet Jesus, I fall upon my knees before Thee, and with most fervent desire beg and beseech Thee that Thou wouldst impress upon my heart a lively sense of faith, hope and charity, true repentance for my sins, and a firm resolve to make amends. And with deep affection and grief, I reflect upon Thy five wounds, having before my eyes that which Thy prophet David spoke about Thee, o good Jesus: "They have pierced my hands and feet, they have counted all my bones." Amen.

Latin Version
En ego, O bone et dulcissime Iesu, ante conspectum tuum genibus me provolvo, ac maximo animi ardore te oro atque obtestor, ut meum in cor vividos fidei, spei et caritatis sensus, atque veram peccatorum meorum poenitentiam, eaque emendandi firmissimam voluntatem velis imprimere; dum magno animi affectu et dolore tua quinque vulnera mecum ipse considero ac mente contemplor, illud prae oculis habens, quod iam in ore ponebat tuo David propheta de te, o bone Iesu: Foderunt manus meas et pedes meos: dinumeraverunt omnia ossa mea. Amen.