Caput XVIII. De significatione Quadragesimae.
The Sacrament of Lent
Fasting always accompanies the religious life, but Lent holds a special sacramental significance.
Although fasting should always accompany the religious life — without which chastity cannot be safe — the observance of Lent, however, holds within itself a great sacrament.1
Three Dwelling Places
The soul's journey passes through three dwelling places: paradise, this suffering world, and heaven with the angels.
Our first dwelling place was paradise. The second — this world, full of hardship. The third — heaven, with angels and spirits.
Forty Days of Exile
The forty days of Lent signify the entire span from Adam's expulsion from paradise to the final day of liberation.
These forty days, however, signify the whole span of time from when Adam was driven out of paradise right up to the last day, when we will be fully set free from this exile.✦2
Our Present Misery
In this exile we live in fear, toil, and sorrow, cut off from God's face and heavenly nourishment, and must live as strangers and pilgrims.
Here we are in fear, in toil, in sorrow — cast out from the sight of God, shut out from the joys of paradise, fasting from heavenly nourishment. And so we must always consider this misery of ours, and bewail it, and show by our works that we are strangers and pilgrims in the world.✦✦34
A Season Ordained by the Holy Spirit
Because human frailty cannot sustain constant awareness of exile, the Holy Spirit established Lent with specific observances to help the Church perceive its meaning.
But because human frailty cannot easily do this, the Holy Spirit established a third season in which we might do it, and ordained certain observances to be kept in the Church, by which we may be able to perceive the meaning of that season.5
Dust and Ashes
The ashes imposed on the faithful echo God's word to Adam — 'You are dust, and to dust you shall return' — driving home our mortality and expulsion.
For it shows us driven out, cast down to death on account of the word the Lord spoke to Adam when He expelled him from paradise — when by the sprinkling of ashes it is said to us, 'You are dust, and to dust you shall return' (Gen.✦6 III, 19).
Veiled from God's Presence
In this exile the vision of God is denied us, a veil hangs before the holy of holies, and we interrupt our customary praise, remembering how far we are from the blessed who dwell in God's house.
So that we may also understand that in this exile the vision of God is denied us, a veil is hung between us and the holy of holies. But so that we may call to mind how far we are from the fellowship of those of whom it is written: Blessed are those who dwell in your house, Lord; they will praise you forever and ever (Ps.✦ LXXXIII, 5); we interrupt the customary word of praise.
Heavenly Bread Denied
The deeper fast of Lent reminds us that in this life we are not satisfied with heavenly bread.
Indeed, the very fact that we are constrained by this deeper fast makes us remember that in this life we are not satisfied with heavenly bread.
Heightened Devotion in Lent
During Lent every Christian adds to customary devotional duties and guards heart and mouth with greater diligence.
In this time, then, every Christian is said to add something to the customary duties of devotion, and to be occupied more diligently and more frequently with guarding heart and mouth.
The Recluse's Deeper Understanding
The recluse grasps Lent's meaning most vividly and in her sacred prayers vows and consecrates her whole self to God.
But the recluse especially understands the meaning of this season far better, the more vividly she recognizes it in her own life. In these sacred prayers, then, by which we especially desire to please Christ, let her vow and consecrate her whole self to God.
Days of the Wedding
Let the recluse treat Lent as the very days of her wedding, rejecting all pleasure and idle talk, longing eagerly for the embrace of Christ.
Let her put away every pleasure, give up every idle talk, and count this time as the very days of her wedding, longing for Christ's embrace with all eagerness.
Prostration and the Holy Name
Let her pray more frequently, prostrate herself at Jesus' feet, and by repeating His Name stir compunction, call forth tears, and restrain her heart from wandering.
Let her give herself to prayer more often than usual, prostrate herself at Jesus' feet more frequently, and by repeating that Name often, stir up compunction, draw forth tears, and hold her heart back from every wandering.
A Day Ordered by Prayer and Labor
From vigils through morning prayers, psalms, and readings, then manual labor until the ninth hour, and finally evening refreshment and Compline — the recluse's day is structured by prayer and work.
Once the sacred vigils are finished, let her devote the time between the morning prayers and the night praises to prayer and meditation. After the morning prayers are said, let her be free for psalms and readings continuously from the first hour right through the full third hour. Once the praise of the Third Hour is completed, let her apply herself devotedly to manual labor until the ninth hour, slipping in brief prayers at intervals. After that, when evening comes, she will refresh her body and then, singing psalms, wait for the time of Compline.
Read the original Latin
Licet autem religionis comes semper debeat esse jejunium, sine quo castitas tuta esse non potest; haec tamen quadragesimalis observatio magnum in se continet sacramentum. Primus locus habitationis nostrae paradisus fuit. Secundus mundus iste plenus aerumnis. Tertius in coelo cum Angelis et Spiritibus. Significant autem isti quadraginta dies totum tempus, ex quo pulsus est Adam de paradiso usque ad ultimum diem, in quo plene liberabuntur ab hoc exsilio. Hic autem sumus in timore, in labore, in dolore, projecti a facie oculorum Dei, exclusi a gaudiis paradisi, jejuni ab alimento coelesti: semper autem debemus hanc miseriam nostram considerare, et deplorare, et ostendere in operibus nostris quod sumus advenae et peregrini in mundo. Sed quia hoc facile non potest humana fragilitas, constituit Spiritus sanctus tertium tempus, quo id faciamus, et quasdam observationes in Ecclesia fieri ordinavit, quibus ipsius temporis causam animadvertere valeamus. Nam ubi ostendit nos pulsos esse, adjectos morti propter verbum quod dixit Dominus ad Adam, cum eum expelleret de paradiso; cum cinerum aspersione dicitur nobis, Pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris (Gen.
III, 19). Ut sciamus etiam, quod in hoc exsilio negatur nobis visio Dei, appenditur velum inter nos et sancta sanctorum. Verum ut reducamus ad memoriam, quod longe sumus ab eorum societate de quibus scriptum est; Beati qui habitant in domo tua, Domine; in saecula saeculorum laudabunt te (Psal. LXXXIII, 5); usitatum verbum laudis intermittimus. Quod vero nos ipso hoc altiori jejunio constringimur, recordari nos facit, quod in hac vita coelesti pane non satiamur. In hoc ergo tempore omnis christianus aliquid addere dicitur solitis obsequiis, et diligentius atque frequentius circa cordis et oris custodiam occupari. Sed inclusa maxime institutionis temporis hujus rationem multo melius intelligit, quanto eam in propria vita sua expressius recognoscit. In his proinde sacris orationibus quibus Christo placere praecipue desideramus, totam se Deo voveat atque sanctificet.
Omnes delicias respuat, omnes confabulationes abjuret; et quasi dies nuptiarum hoc tempus existimans, ad amplexus Christi omni aviditate suspiret. Frequentius solito incumbat orationi, crebrius se pedibus Jesu prosternat, crebra nominis illius repetitione compunctionem excitet, lacrymas provocet, cor ab omni vagatione compescat. Finitis itaque sacris vigiliis intervallum, quod a nocturnis laudibus dividit matutinas, orationi et meditationi observiat. Dictaque post matutinas prima usque ad plenam tertiam psalmis ac lectionibus vacet. Tertiae vero horae laude completa, operi manuum usque ad horam nonam devota insistat, breves per intervalla orationes inserens: dicta post hoc vespera corpus reficiet, et sic tempus completorii psallens exspectet.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gen.3.23-Gen.3.24 — So the LORD God sent him out from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. Gen.3.24 — So he drove out the man, and he settled east of the Garden of Eden the cherubim, and the flaming sword that turns every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
- ↩Heb.11.13 — By faith these all died, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar and having greeted them, and having confessed that they are strangers and exiles on the earth.
- ↩1Pet.2.11 — Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the fleshly desires that wage war against the soul.
- ↩Gen.3.19 — By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
- ↩Ps.83.5 — They said, 'Come, let us wipe them out as a nation, so that the name of Israel will be remembered no more.'
Notes
- 1 ↩sacramentum rendered as 'sacrament' in the sense of a sacred mystery or sign, not merely a ritual observance.
- 2 ↩liberabuntur is a plural passive — the subject is understood as 'we' (the faithful) from context, though the Latin leaves it implicit.
- 3 ↩facie oculorum Dei — literally 'from the face of the eyes of God' — rendered idiomatically as 'from the face of God's eyes' to preserve the vivid anthropomorphism.
- 4 ↩advenae et peregrini rendered as 'strangers and pilgrims' to capture the dual sense of being both foreigners and wayfarers.
- 5 ↩tertium tempus — 'a third season' — the author appears to be counting: (1) paradise, (2) this world, (3) a designated liturgical time (Lent) as a remedy within the second.
- 6 ↩The quotation 'Pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris' is from Genesis 3:19 (Vulgate). The parenthetical citation is cut off in the source text.
De institutione inclusarum (A Rule of Life for a Recluse) companion
A rule only lives if you keep it daily
Chosen Portion gives your new rule its anchor: one free devotional portion every day.
Aelred built his sister's day around fixed times of prayer and meditation; Chosen Portion supplies the fixed daily portion that makes a modern rule of life keepable.
- Anchor your rule with a fixed 10-minute daily portion
- Practice Aelred's threefold meditation with guided daily prompts
- Review and adjust your one-page rule after 30 days of tracked practice