Today is Septuagesima Sunday. In the older Roman calendar, this Sunday marks 70 days until Easter. In the New Advent entry on Septuagesima Sunday, it states the following:
Septuagesima is today inaugurated in the Roman Martyrology by the words: "Septuagesima Sunday, on which the canticle of the Lord, Alleluja, ceases to be said". On the Saturday preceding, the Roman Breviary notes that after the "Benedicamus" of Vespers two Alleluias are to be added, that thenceforth it is to be omitted till Easter, and in its place "Laus tibi Domine" is to be said at the beginning of the Office.
The countdown for Easter has began. Next Sunday will be Sexagesima, or sixty, and the following Sunday will be Quinquegesima, or fifty. These weeks before Ash Wednesday are a pre-Lenten preparation. In the Fisheaters Septuagesima Overview, the noted theme is man's fallen state and the mood is penance.
The wonderful part of the older liturgical calendar is that it gives one time to prepare. One is not thrown into a liturgical season without warning. Ash Wednesday and Lent do not suddenly appear on the doorstep unannounced and unprepared for. I have a very good friend, who exclusively attends the Novus Ordo, who lamented to me that she has been in "penance mode" since the beginning of the year because she wants to be ready for Lent. She admitted that she did not properly celebrate Christmas because she was focused on her New Years resolutions and having a routine that would allow penance. This makes me so sad.
As noted in the sermon at my parish today, this is the time to prepare for Lent. We should be thinking about our acts of penance and easing into them. We have just come out of a great season of joy and the Church, in her wisdom, preserved in the old calendar, provides us with a time of preparation so we can be successful in the season of Lent.
Soon, starting on Ash Wednesday, we will be alone in the desert with Christ for 40 days. During this time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving; that is, during this time of penance, we should strive to grow in holiness in abundance. We should seek to perform meritorious actions and works of penance. But, we should be reasonable for our age, spiritual maturity, and state in life.
It has been said that a penance which become burdensome to others is not a good penance. A mother who spends a holy hour daily at the expense of her children is not performing a good act of penance. The expense should only be mortifying self, not mortifying all. The father who chooses to fast all day and becomes irritated and demeaning toward his family, or hangry as modern colloquial language allows, is not performing a good act of penance.
This being said, giving up chocolate is probably not a very good act of penance either. Unless you eat chocolate in abundance, the act of giving up chocolate is a minor inconvenience at times. Giving up cream in your coffee is a minor inconvenience, and not usually considered a mortifying act. These may be good examples of penance for children and those just beginning to understand the spiritual life.
Over the next several days, it is time to begin a self-examination of what penances can be undertaken during Lent.
Some articles to read on the subject of Septuagesima are:
