Many of us are digging out papers, bank statements, and checkbooks to help us prepare our tax return reports. As we do this, we find ourselves doing inventory of how much money we took in last year and how we spent it. For some this is a wake-up call. Maybe we’ve been spending beyond our means or maybe we aren’t distributing our money in the best possible way. Though this process is not always fun, it is refreshing to see clearly where we stand financially so we can improve our practices next year.
As the government calls us to do income inventory, the Church invites us to do spiritual inventory. This is not always pleasant, but it gives us a clearer picture of where stand in our relationship with God. Sometimes it is encouraging to know that we’ve been keeping on the right track; at other times it is a wake-up call that alerts to make adjustments in our spiritual lives.
Using the tax-form analogy, we can think about preparing three reports. One is an evaluation of our prayer “spendings.” The second is on our fasting habits. And the third is an almsgiving report. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are not just Lenten practices. These are necessary ingredients year-round for us to live a healthy spiritual life. Though we focus on these three areas during inventory time, we apply them year round.
In today’s reading from Isaiah we are reminded of God’s part in our spiritual growth (Isaiah 55:10). Speaking for God, the prophet says:
“Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful…so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”
God’s grace is the spiritual rain that comes down upon us every year. Without it our lives become a disaster, no matter how hard we try. As his grace soaks into our spirits they come alive with life and bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. These in turn reap praises and glory to God, thus completing the process as God intended it.
On the other hand we know that rain has the power to do more than nurture the seed that is sown. There are times when it causes mud slides or even floods. Rain also cleans the air as it falls and washes sidewalks clean. It always gets the job done in one way or another.
We sure don’t want our spiritual ground to become mud that washes down a hill side. As God sends the rainfall of his grace, we want to have the “air” of our spirits cleaned and the paths of our lives made clean. Beyond this we want to do all we can so this rain soaks deeply into our hearts and releases the fruit of the Holy Spirit in an abundant way.
This is where our inventory comes in. We keep the soil of our spirits rich and receptive by practicing the three disciplines that the Church brings to our attention now.
Jesus gave his disciples a short lesson on the habit of prayer. He told them that much of what people call prayer is not prayer at all. Then he gave them an approach to prayer that works (Matthew 6:7-15).
“Do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This is how you are to pray: ‘Our Father who art in heaven…’”
As we do inventory on our prayer lives, we ask if we’ve fallen into the “babbling” habit. Pagans prayed more than the disciples of Jesus did. They spent a long time bombarding their gods with words—believing that the more they babbled the more pressure they put on their gods. Jesus’ disciples, however, were to pray as children. They had a Father who knew what they needed and provided it in abundance. Their prayer was not so much begging for favors as it was turning their attention in love to the Father they had in common. Prayer was to be as natural as breathing. As we open our mouths to inhale air, so we open our hearts to “inhale” the Father’s love—we breathe in his grace and remind ourselves of how generous he is to us. Prayer is the joyful “soaking in” of the spiritual rain that he pours out upon us moment by moment.
We can go on to examine the fresh teaching of Jesus on the practices of fasting and almsgiving. Fasting was not about self-deprivation and almsgiving was not about guilt-driven giving. We ask ourselves if doing fasting and almsgiving as the pagans do or as disciples of Jesus were to do.
Meantime we ask the Holy Spirit to help us take a gentle inventory of our lives, so that our post-Lenten lives will be much richer and much stronger than they are now.
“Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame” (Ps 34:6).
