A striking theme in these Lenten readings is the relationship between who we are on the outside and who we are on our insides. What both the practices and spirit of Lent intend is to draw these two realms closer together.

We hear Jesus’ scorching criticisms of people whose concern is mostly (and sometimes only) with the outside, how I appear to the world around me. In more current terms, his warning refers to achieving top marks for fasting and prayer, whether or not they are connected to my inner life.

That’s our challenge: to move through the weeks of Lent doing those external things, but trying harder to connect them more genuinely to our deeper levels.

Here are some key sentences from the readings.

The prophet Joel who tells us to “rend our hearts.” That is to stir up the inner juices running through us so as to have them flowing in more accord with the prompts coming from God’s Spirit who lives deep within  us. Let my outward actions resonate with what’s going on inside me.

Reinforcing that, Jesus lays out a graphic image for the praying we do. His counsel? When you pray, let it come from your deeper self. Or as He pictures it, your prayers should be coming up from your “inner room.” Your spoken prayers are to be rooted in your heart. heart.

Finally, there’s St. Paul’s repeated frustration at this reluctance to align outward actions with inner beliefs.  When is the time to be doing this, he insists? “Now! Behold, right now is a very acceptable time. Here and now is the day of salvation.”

A dominant and reverberating theme for these 40 days is that our outer Lenten actions align more closely with our inner selves, that our external and internal worlds harmonize more smoothly.  Or, in Joel’s no-nonsense and prophetic challenge: “That we rend our hearts and not our garments.”

Vincent himself often highlights this quality he calls Simplicity.

Never say anything contrary to what you think; for doing so is as contrary to Simplicity as fire is to water.
(Volume: 10 | Page#: 286) Uniformity, 15 November, 1657 added on 6/28/2011

[Simplicity is] a virtue that makes us go straight to God and to the truth, without beating about the bush or being deceitful.
(Volume: 11 | Page#: 24) Recommendations given at Chapter added on 6/28/2011

O Simplicity, you’re really very persuasive! Simplicity converts everyone. It’s quite certain that, to convince and win over the human spirit, we have to act simply.
(Volume: 11 | Page#: 259) Method to be followed in Preaching added on 6/28/2011