Septuagesima: What Have I Withheld?

SEPTUAGESIMA
by Christina Rossetti

One step more, and the race is ended;
One word more, and the lesson’s done;
One toil more, and a long rest follows
At set of sun.

Who would fail, for one step withholden?
Who would fail, for one word unsaid?
Who would fail, for a pause too early?
Sound sleep the dead.

One step more, and the goal receives us;
One word more, and life’s task is done;
One toil more, and the Cross is carried
And sets the sun.

Were it not that I went to the Tridentine Mass today, I would have forgotten that it is Septuagesima Sunday. As I knelt in prayer prior to Mass, I wondered why the liturgical colors were being changed to purple. I know that I’ve needed to catch up on some sleep, but surely I hadn’t gone to bed and woken up on Ash Wednesday.

Gratefully, the priest in his homily reminded me of what I should have remembered. Before I had become Catholic, but after I had fallen in love with liturgy through reading the Book of Common Prayer, I had a great fondness for these lesser liturgical observances leading up to Lent—Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima. These traditonal observances, sadly, are not in the Ordinary Form, but only in the older. (The words “Septuagesima,” “Sexagesima,” and “Quinquagesima” come from the Latin for the season of Lent, “Quadragesima,” meaning—naturally—“fortieth.”) Traditionally, starting on Septuagesima, the faithful begin seventeen days of spiritual preparation for the start of Lent.

It’s not a bad idea; in the same way that one should prepare for the start of a physical fast, one should also prepare for the start of a spiritual fast.

Today’s epistle reading is 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5, in which St. Paul urges Christians to run so as to obtain the prize.

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. …

The Gospel reading was Matthew 20:1-16, the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, in which those who came at the last hour received the same reward as those who had labored all day.

I have always looked at this parable with a great sense of comfort—typical, I suppose, for one (like myself) often guilty of procrastination. Even if I come late, even if I come at the final hour, the reward is the same.

But one must be careful with thoughts like these. Who knows when the final hour will be? Who knows when the Lord will demand an account? Be careful, he find you sleeping. Oh, I’ll come to Christ tomorrow you say. Oh, I’ll give up that sin next week you say. But no. What if this is your last day?

Do not wait until Ash Wednesday to confess. Go now. Don’t wait until the last hour to go to the vineyard. Labor now, and do good.

Pummel your body and subdue it, St. Paul tells us. Get yourself under your own control. Do not perish—turning to Christina Rossetti’s language—for the lack of one step, one further toil, one word left unsaid. I am reminded when I read this poem: What have I held back from Christ? What have I left undone, saying, “maybe tomorrow”? What part of myself am I keeping for myself when I should give it to Christ? In what room of my soul have I shut the door to him with a sign that says “No entry”? But just that one part more, and the prize is won.

It is fitting that the Church, in its traditional liturgy, would begin a period of preparation for Lent with sentiments such as these. It is by meditating on them that we will know what penance we should practice for Lent. What have I withheld from Christ? What have I kept for myself? Whatever your answer to those questions is: Give that away this year. It will mean very little if, once more, lacking any real discernment, you decide to give up cookies. Why not give up yourself?

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