Ash Wednesday Day 1. Lent with the Cure d'Ars: On sin
by VP
Posted on Tuesday March 04, 2025 at 11:00PM in Lenten Sermons
"Sin is a thought, a word, an action, contrary to the law of God.
By sin, my children, we rebel against the good God, we despise His justice, we tread under foot His blessings. From being children of God, we become the executioner and assassin of our soul, the offspring of hell, the horror of heaven, the murderer of Jesus Christ, the capital enemy of the good God.
O my children! if we thought of this, if we reflected on the injury which sin offers to the good God, we should hold it in abhorrence, we should be unable to commit it; but we never think of it, we like to live at our ease, we slumber in sin. If the good God sends us remorse, we quickly stifle it, by thinking that we have done no harm to anybody, that God is good, and that He did not place us on the earth to make us suffer.
Indeed, my children the good God did not place us on the earth to suffer and endure, but to work out our salvation. See; He wills that we should work today and tomorrow; and after, an eternity of joy, of happiness, awaits us in heaven.
O my children! how ungrateful we are! The good God calls us to Himself; He wishes to make us happy for ever, and we are deaf to His word, we will not share His happiness; He enjoins us to love Him, and we give our heart to the devil.
The good God commands all nature as its Master; He makes the winds and the storms obey Him; the angels tremble at His adorable will; man alone dares to resist Him.
See; God forbids us that action that criminal pleasure, that revenge, that injustice; no matter, we are bent upon satisfying ourselves; we had rather renounce the happiness of heaven, than deprive ourselves of a moment's pleasure, or give up a sinful habit, or change our life. What are we, then that we dare thus to resist God? Dust and ashes, which he could annihilate with a single look.
By sin, my children, we despise the good God. We renew His Death and Passion; we do as much evil as all the Jews together did, in fastening Him to the Cross. Therefore, my children, if we were to ask those who work without necessity on Sunday: "What are you doing there?" and they were to answer truly, they would say, "We are crucifying the good God."
Ask the idle, the gluttonous, the immodest, what they do every day. If they answer you according to what they are really doing, they will say, "We are crucifying the good God."
O my children! it is very ungrateful to offend a God who has never done us any harm; but is it not the height of ingratitude to offend a God who has done us nothing but good?
It is He who created us, who watches over us, He holds us in His hands, like a handful of hair; if He chose, He could cast us into the nothingness out of which he took us. He has given us His Son, to redeem us from the slavery of the devil; He himself gave Him up to death, that He might restore us to life; He has adopted us as His children, and ceases not to lavish His graces upon us. Notwithstanding all this, what do we make of our mind, of our memory, of our health, of those limbs which He gave us to serve Him with? We employ them in committing crimes.
The good God, my children, has given us eyes to enlighten us, to see heaven, and we use them to look at criminal and dangerous objects; He has given us a tongue to praise Him, and to express our thoughts, and we make it an instrument of iniquity, we swear, we blaspheme, we speak ill of our neighbor, we slander him, we abuse the supernatural graces, we stifle the salutary remorse, by which God would convert us; we reject the inspiration of our good guardian angel.
We despise good thoughts, we neglect prayer and the Sacraments. What account do we make even of the Word of God? Do we not listen to it with disgust? How miserable we are! How much we are to be pitied! We employ in losing our souls the time that the good God has given us to save them in. We make war upon Him with the means He has given us to serve Him; we turn His own gifts against Him! Let us cast our eyes, my children upon Jesus fastened to the Cross, and let us say to ourselves, 'This is what it has cost my Savior to repair the injury my sins have done to God."
A God coming down to the earth to be the victim of our sins! A God suffering, a God dying, a God enduring every torment, because He has put on the semblance of sin and has chosen to bear the weight of our iniquities.
Ah! my children, that sight of that Cross! Let us conceive once for all the malice of sin, and the abhorrence in which we should hold it. Let us enter into ourselves, and see what we ought to do to repair our past sins; let us implore the clemency of the good God and let us all together say to Him, from the bottom of our heart, " O Lord, who art here crucified for us, have mercy upon us! Thou comest down from heaven to cure souls of sin; cure us, we beseech Thee; cause our souls to be purified by approaching the tribunal of penance; yes, O God! make us look upon sin as the greatest of all evils, and by our zeal in avoiding it, and in repairing those we have had the misfortune to commit, let us one day attain to the happiness of the saints."
Source: The Spirit of the Cure d'Ars by l'Abbe Monnin 1865
Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen
Source: Lent with the Cure d'Ars Compiled by the CAPG
Prayer at the beginning of Lent
by VP
Posted on Tuesday March 04, 2025 at 11:00PM in Prayers
Temptation of Jesus in desert. By William Hole 1908
"Almighty God! I unite myself
at the beginning of this holy season of penance with the Church
militant, endeavoring to make these days of real sorrow for my sins
and crucifixion of the sensual man. O Lord Jesus! in union with
Thy fasting and passion, I offer Thee my fasting in obedience to
the Church, for Thy honor, and in thanksgiving for the many favors
I have received, in satisfaction for my sins and the sins of others,
and that I may receive the grace to avoid such and such a sin, N.
N. and to practice such and such a virtue, N. N."
Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine's The Church's Year
St. Gerasimus, Anchoret, a.d. 475.
by VP
Posted on Tuesday March 04, 2025 at 11:00PM in Saints
"He was born in Lycia. He went into Palestine, and retiring into a desert near the Jordan, suffered much from the assaults of the devil, and by his snares was prevailed on to take part with heretics. But having heard of the eminent virtues of St. Euthymius, a holy abbot in Palestine, he went to him in his solitude; he was so moved with his discourse, that he returned to the faith of the Church. He grieved bitterly during his whole life for having gone astray, and this fault made him more humble, vigilant, and penitent than ever.
St. Gerasimus afterwards built a large laura with separate cells for seventy solitaries, and in the midst of it, a monastery for cenobites, that is, those who lived in community. Here he entered with those who joined him into a severe penance of poverty and humility, observing entire silence for five days in the week; and on them admitting no other food but bread, dates and water. They had no clothes but the habit which they wore, and no furniture but a mat for their bed, and a pitcher for the water which they drank. They employed themselves in manual labor, making baskets of palm branches.
The inhabitants of Jericho, full of astonishment and admiration at the rigorous lives of these holy men, resolved to provide something more for their support. But the greater part of them were grieved to have their solitude broken in upon by people of the world, and shunned all intercourse with them as full of danger. St. Gerasimus persevered in this edifying course of life till his happy death on the 5th of March, 475.
Let the example of those, who are above your imitation, excite in you a resolution of doing something to overcome yourself. If you make inclination and the world your rule, you forsake the Gospel,
which commands you to renounce both. You must deny yourself, if you
will be Christ's disciple. A remissness in observing discipline is the first step to the greatest
disorders. Niceness, self-love, and sloth, find reasons for dispensing
with it; but no favor must be shown to their arguments." The Catholic Year by Rev. Fr. John Gother
Shrove Tuesday: Feast of The Holy Face
by VP
Posted on Monday March 03, 2025 at 11:00PM in Tradition
The Feast of the Holy Face – Shrove Tuesday On April 17th, 1958, His Holiness Pope Pius XII approved the observance of a Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus on Shrove Tuesday (Tuesday before Ash Wednesday).
A Prayer for the Church
O God, by Thy Holy Name have pity on us, protect us, and save us.
O good Jesus, in the sweet Name guard our Sovereign Pontiff; breathe into his
soul the spirit of the Comforter.
Jesus, thy Church is menaced with great trials! Holy Father, by the virtue of
thy salutary Name protect the Church of Jesus Christ. This was the last will of
thy Divine Son; it is the holy prayer which love prompted towards the end of his
life. Holy Father, keep in thy Name those thou hast given me (St. John chap. xxxvii. 11)
O most holy and worthy Mother, refuge of the Church, intercede for us and save us by
the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
St. Michael and the Holy Angels, guard the bark of Peter; disperse its enemies
by the Holy Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Source: Sister Saint-Pierre and the Work of Reparation.
Manual of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face
I salute, adore, and love Thee, O Jesus, my Savior, covered anew with outrages by blasphemers, and I offer Thee, through the heart of Thy blessed Mother, the worship of all the Angels and Saints, as an incense and a perfume of sweet odor, most humbly beseeching Thee, by the virtue of Thy Sacred Face, to repair and renew in me and in all men Thy image disfigured by sin. Amen
Source: Veronica, or the Holy Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ 1871St. Casimir, Prince of Poland, Confessor, a.d. 1483
by VP
Posted on Monday March 03, 2025 at 11:00PM in Saints

Saint Casimir by Agostino Masucci
(1691–1758)
"He was son of Casimir, king of Poland, who amidst all the softness of the court, lived with the austerity of the desert, in fasting and sackcloth, even in his youthful years. He was eminent for his charity in relieving the distressed, so as to be styled the father of the poor; and was very careful to avoid everything that could be prejudicial to chastity.
Pray for all those, who live amidst the dangers of the court; and in particular for princes, that, being God's vicegerents, they may encourage religion and virtue, and not permit that general depravity in persons attending them, by whose profaneness, irreligion, and luxury, their courts become the resemblance of hell, while the power of God is in the throne. Pray likewise for persons of quality of both sexes, that they may not employ their youthful years in vanities and dangerous follies, nor sully the honor of their birth with dishonourable practices, such as make them the worst of slaves, and render them contemptible both to God and man. The abuse of those blessings, with which they are encompassed above their neighbors, will be one day a very heavy charge; and it will be an aggravation of their hell to have all their imperiousness and pride trampled on by devils. The method of this saint in charity, piety, and penance is the only Christian honor; and this will raise all that follow it to the honor of saints. The ecclesiastical season of the year calls all now to it. See that you embrace it heartily; labor by an exact observance, to make some atonement for all past follies, and never remit your endeavors, till you have wrought a solid change in your soul." The Catholic Year by Rev. John Gother
For the Church and Civil Authorities by Archbishop Carroll:
We pray Thee, O almighty and Eternal
God, Who through Jesus Christ Hast revealed Thy glory to all nations, to
preserve the works of Thy mercy; that thy Church, being spread through
the whole world, may continue, with unchanging faith, in the confession
of Thy name. We pray Thee, who alone art good and holy, to endow
with heavenly knowledge, sincere zeal, and sanctity of life our Pope
Francis, the vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ in the government of His
Church; our own bishop ...; all the other bishops, prelates, and pastors
of the Church; and especially those who are appointed to exercise
among us the functions of the holy ministry, and conduct Thy people
into the ways of salvation.
We pray Thee, O God of might,
wisdom, and justice, through whom authority is rightly administered,
laws are enacted, and judgments decreed, assist, with the Holy Spirit of
counsel and fortitude, the President of the United States, that his
administration may be
conducted in righteousness, and be eminently useful to Thy people,
over whom he presides, by
encouraging due respect for virtue and religion;
by faithful execution of the law in justice and
mercy; and by restraining vice
and immorality. Let the light of Thy divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress,
and shine forth in all the
proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government;
so that they may tend to the preservation
of peace, the promotion of national happiness,
the increase of industry, sobriety, and useful
knowledge, and may
perpetuate to us the blessings of equal liberty.
We pray for his Excellency the Governor of
this State, for the members of the Assembly,
for all judges, magistrates, and other officers who
are appointed to guard our political welfare; that they may be enabled,
by Thy powerful protection, to discharge the duties
of their respective stations with honesty and
ability. We
recommend likewise to Thy unbounded mercy all our brethren and fellow
citizens, throughout the
United States, that they may be blessed in the knowledge, and sanctified
in the observance of Thy
most holy law; that they may be preserved in union, and in that peace
which the world cannot give;
and, after enjoying the blessings of this life, be admitted to those
which are eternal.
Finally, we pray Thee, O Lord of mercy, to remember the souls of Thy
servants departed who are gone
before us with the sign of faith, and repose in the sleep of peace:
the souls of our parents, relations, and friends;
of those who, when living, were members of this
congregation; and particularly of such as are lately deceased;
of all benefactors who, by their
donations or legacies to this Church, witnessed their zeal for the
decency of divine worship,
and proved their claim to our grateful and charitable remembrance.To these, O Lord, and to
all that rest in Christ, grant we beseech Thee, a place of refreshment,
light, and everlasting
peace, through the same Jesus, Our Lord and Savior. Amen.
The Practice of Lent: Our Mother's Mind
by VP
Posted on Sunday March 02, 2025 at 11:00PM in Tradition
"Life is a duty, dare it;
Life is a burden, bear it;
Life is a thorn-crown, wear it,
Though it break your heart in twain,
Though the burden crush you down,
Close your lips and hide your pain,
First the cross and then the crown."
Why a Lentent Season? By Rev. Fr. Michael A. O'Reilly, Paulist Fathers"The practice of Lent is not today what it was in the past. The black fast common in the day of our fathers and grandfathers, would seem to our day and generation a burden too heavy to be borne: the rules of the fast have been lightened and dispensations are multiplied to fit the burden to the back of a people less physically strong than their forbears, living in a time of hurry and strain. In this the Church has acted as a tender Mother, solicitous for the bodies as well as the souls of her children.
But the Church is not alone a tender Mother: she is first and always a faithful Spouse. The law of Christ is her law, the words of Christ are her words; she would not subtract from them one iota, nor will she ever admit that her children cannot follow where He has led. Others may say that His words must not be taken literally; that His law cannot be rigorously applied in the struggle of our complex life; that no man can aspire to the Christ life. Not so, the Spouse of Christ, the Catholic Church. She knows and she believes that Christ is the Son of God, the Divine Word: that He is Eternal Truth Who can neither deceive nor be deceived: that He is Infinite Wisdom Whose commands are possible and Whose counsels are delightful. Has He not said: “Follow Me,” and “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”?
Now the command to do penance was uttered by her Lord and Master in no uncertain terms: “Unless you do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke xiii. 3-5). And again, after His resurrection, He built up the faltering faith of His disciples by asserting the necessity of His Passion and of the continuance of the work of penance: “It behooved Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead the third day: that penance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name” (Luke xxiv. 46, 47). How, then, may we reconcile the mitigation of the fast and multiplied dispensations with the Church’s fidelity to the exact teaching of the Master? To find the answer we must penetrate more deeply the mind of our Mother; we must analyze more carefully the meaning of penance and study its purposes more attentively.
If we look into the mind of our Mother, we will find her always tender, often indulgent, but never weak: her aim is not to spoil, but to strengthen: to build up, not to tear down. What she concedes to the weakness of the body is not to enervate the soul but to provide it with a more virile temple, a more active co-partner in the following of Christ. If the external circumstances of penance are changed, it is only to stress more deeply the hidden significance of the inevitable divine law: “Unless you do penance, you shall all likewise perish.” Every year the Holy Spirit within her invites her children, most urgently, to turn aside from the busy marts of men and follow our Lord into the desert. Those whose strength permits them the privilege of sharing literally His fast, she warns that “the letter without the spirit is dead”; those whose weakness does not permit them that privilege, she reminds that they are not thereby excused. For them, too, is the ringing call of the Master: “Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me,” and it may not be evaded: all may not fast with Christ but all must pray with Him in the desert, if they would not perish.
Now, then, as never before, perhaps, it becomes us to take stock of what Lent is to mean to us in practice, to enter more fully into the self-denials of prayer and acquire more truly the spirit of penance.
Only thus will we be really in touch with the mind of our Mother, faithful to the leading of the Holy Spirit of Love, and obedient to the behest of our Divine Savior and Model: “Be ye perfect.” For, as St. Paul reminds us, only “if we be dead with Him,” shall we “also live with Him” (2 Tim.
ii. 11).
Source: Lent In Practice, (The Spirit of Penance) by Father John Burke C.S.P.
St. Marinus of Caesarea, Martyr, A.D. about 272.
by VP
Posted on Sunday March 02, 2025 at 11:00PM in Saints
"He was an officer in the Roman army under Valerian. Being asked by the governor of Palestine if he was a Christian, he answered in the affirmative: whereupon the judge gave him three hours so consider whether he would abide by his answer, or recal it. The bishop of Cæsarea being informed of the affair, came to him, when he was withdrawn from the tribunal, and taking him by the hand, led him to the church. There, pointing to the sword which he wore, and then to the book of the gospels, he asked him which of the two he would choose. Marinus, without the least hesitation, stretched out his right hand, and laid hold of the sacred book. Upon which the bishop said: "Go, be constant, and doubt not but God will give thee strength." Being summoned again before the judge, he professed his faith with even greater resolution and alacrity than before, and was immediately led away and beheaded, losing his sword, but gaining the promise of the gospel.
To many Christians the like choice is now offered; and how great is the number of those, who for temporal interest forsake the gospel, transgressing all its maxims to make their own advantage? And what is their gain, when accounts are made up, when the loss of heaven is the fruit of their injustice? Follow a better rule. Hold the gospel in your hand, and go no further than you can carry this with you. If any advantage be offered, and the condition of the purchase is offending against the truth or justice of this sacred volume, renounce the proposal;
for this is giving heaven for earth, and eternity for a moment. Praise
God for his mercy to this his servant, who having the same infirm nature that we have, desirous of quiet, and averse to suffering, was so confirmed by the divine grace, as cheerfully to submit to persecution, and to offer himself a sacrifice for the glory of God's name, and in testimony of his truth." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
Saint Katharine Drexel
by VP
Posted on Sunday March 02, 2025 at 11:00PM in Saints
Saint Katharine Drexel, Holy Name Cathedral, Raleigh NC ©CAPG
Saint Katharine Drexel in North Carolina
Quotes from Saint Katharine Drexel:
- "The patient and humble endurance of the Cross - whatever nature it may be- is the highest work we have to do."
- "Ours is the Spirit of the Eucharist, the total gift of self."
- "The Eucharist is the never ending sacrifice. It is the Sacrament of Love, the supreme love, the act of love."
- "My sweetest Joy is to be in the presence of Jesus in the Holy
Sacrament. I beg that when obliged to withdraw in body, I may leave my
heart before the Holy Sacrament. How I would miss Our Lord if He were to
be away from me by His presence in the Blessed Sacrament!"
"The opening chapter of the rule admirably defines this twofold purpose
of the life of a Sister of the Blessed Sacrament: "The object of the
Institute is the honor and service of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
The sisters admitted to this religious congregation, besides attending
particularly to their own perfection, which is the principal end of all
religious orders, shall, by an apostolate of prayer and work, zealously
endeavor to procure through Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament living
temples for His Divinity amongst the Indian and colored races. To attain
this end the sisters admitted to this religious congregation shall
consecrate themselves, body, soul and spirit, to the service of their
Eucharistic Lord by their twofold apostolate, and feel convinced that
even if they were to perform heroic acts of virtue, they would only be
doing their duty; that is, they would be conducting themselves as it is
meet and fitting for the honor of Him who has given Himself entirely to
them." (...)
Devotion to Jesus in the Holy Sacrament is the great central devotion of
the sisterhood. The rule says, "Jesus really present in the Holy
Eucharist shall be the constant object of their affection. They shall
often reflect, on the infinite charity displayed for us in that ever
adorable Sacrament, and by frequent visits every day, pay assiduous
court to their Heavenly Spouse on His throne of love, uniting their acts
of adoration, prayers and thanksgiving, to those of the angels who
continually attend Him in the tabernacle. In all their sufferings and
anxieties, in all their fears, afflictions and temptations, they shall
seek comfort and consolation at the foot of the altar. They shall endeavor to model themselves on the
gentleness, humility, obedience and annihilation of Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament. The practical rule of their conduct should be, what does our
Lord Jesus Christ want of me at this moment? In this action is there
anything for His service, for His glory? What would our Lord do on such
or such an occasion?" (...)
"The Feast of the Purification following witnessed the opening of "Holy Providence House." In an incredibly short time the building was filled to its utmost capacity-one hundred and fifty children. The majority are girls, whom the sisters keep until their twenty-first year. The boys, when they have reached the age of twelve, are transferred to industrial or trade schools. The girls receive a good common-school education, the larger ones spend one-half day in school work, the other half in domestic employment. Some take a course in scientific dressmaking; the steam laundry instructs others in all the details of fine laundry work; while the bakery and cooking classes afford instruction to an equally large number. The aim is to give the girls a good, solid English education, and a thorough knowledge of all the branches of domestic economy." American Ecclesiastical Review
Saint Simplicius (47th Pope)
by VP
Posted on Saturday March 01, 2025 at 11:00PM in Saints

"Saint Simplicius was the ornament of the Roman Clergy under Sts. Leo and Hilarius, and succeeded the latter in the pontificate in 468. He was raised by God to comfort and support his Church amidst the greatest storms. All the provinces of the Western Empire, out of Italy, were fallen into the hands of barbarians. The emperors for many years were rather shadows of power than sovereigns, and, in the eighth year of the pontificate of Simplicius, Rome itself fell a prey to foreigners. Italy, by oppression and the ravages of barbarians, was left almost a desert without inhabitants; and the imperial armies consisted chiefly of barbarians, hired under the name of auxiliaries. These soon saw that their masters were in their power. The Heruli demanded one third of the lands of Italy, and, upon refusal, chose for their leader Odoacer, one of the lowest extraction but a resolute and intrepid man, who was proclaimed king at Rome in 476. He put to death Orestes, who was regent of the empire for his son Augustulus, whom the senate had advanced to the imperial throne. Odoacer spared the life of Augustulus, appointed him a salary of six thousand pounds of gold, and permitted him to live at full liberty near Naples.
Pope Simplicius was wholly taken up in comforting and relieving the afflicted, and in sowing the seeds of the Catholic faith among the barbarians. The East gave his zeal no less employment and concern. Peter Cnapheus, a violent Eutychian, was made by the heretics Patriarch of Antioch ; and Peter Mongus, one of the most profligate men, that of Alexandria. Acacius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, received the sentence of St. Simplicius against Cnapheus, but supported Mongus against him and the Catholic Church, and was a notorious changeling, double-dealer, and artful hypocrite, who often made religion serve his own private ends. St. Simplicius at length discovered his artifices, and redoubled his zeal to maintain the Holy faith, which he saw betrayed on every side, list the patriarchal sees of Alexandria and Antioch were occupied by furious wolves, and there was not one Catholic king in the whole world. The emperor measured everything by his passions and human views. St. Simplicius, having sat fifteen years eleven months and six days, went to receive the reward of his labors in 483. He was buried in St. Peter's on the 2d of March."
Reflection.-" He that trusteth in God shall fare never the worse," saith the Wise Man in the Book of Ecclesiasticus.
Source: Lives of the Saints, with reflections for every day in the year.
Prayer for the Pope ( by Pope Leo XIII)
O Lord, we are the millions of
believers, humbly kneeling at Thy feet and begging Thee to preserve,
defend and save the Sovereign Pontiff for many years. He is the Father
of the great fellowship of souls and our Father as well. On this day, as
on every other day, he is praying for us also, and is offering unto
Thee with holy fervor the sacred Victim of love and peace.
Wherefore, O Lord, turn Thyself toward us with eyes of pity; for we are
now, as it were, forgetful of ourselves, and are praying above all for
him. Do Thou unite our prayers with his and receive them into the bosom
of Thine infinite mercy, as a sweet savor of active and fruitful
charity, whereby the children are united in the Church to their Father.
All that he asks of Thee this day, we too ask it of Thee in unison
with him. Whether he weeps or rejoices, whether he hopes or offers
himself as a victim of charity for his people, we desire to be united
with him; nay more, we desire that the cry of our hearts should be made
one with his. Of Thy great mercy grant, O Lord, that not one of us may
be far from his mind and his heart in the hour that he prays and offers
unto Thee the Sacrifice of Thy blessed Son.
At the moment when
our venerable High Priest, holding in His hands the very Body of Jesus
Christ, shall say to the people over the Chalice of benediction these
words: "The peace of the Lord be with you always, grant, O Lord, that
Thy sweet peace may come down upon our hearts and upon all the nations
with new and manifest power. Amen.
On Shrove tide
by VP
Posted on Saturday March 01, 2025 at 11:00PM in Tradition
"The three days of Quinquagesima, or Shrove-tide, are the immediate preparation for Lent. Whence in them religious persons redouble their fervour in their compunction and penitential exercises. How much this spirit is recommended by the church to all her children at this time, appears in the whole tenor of her holy office. In this week of Quinquagesima, anciently all the faithful made a confession of their sins, and sanctified it by preparatory practices of holy penance.
(...) Origen, one of the earliest and most learned masters of the most illustrious of the Christian schools, established at Alexandria in the second and third ages, writes as follows: "Look about very diligently "to whom you ought to confess your sins. Try first the physician "to whom you are to lay open the source of your disorder; who "ought to know how to sympathize and condole; that if he who "has shown himself a skilful and tender physician shall give you any “advice, you carefully follow it."
The same maxim is inculcated by the most zealous pastors of the church through all succeeding ages. Shrovetide was the most solemn and general time in which all the faithful anciently approached the sacred tribunal of confession with the greatest compunction and fervour. This its very name in our language implies: for our English Saxon ancestors, from this universal custom, called it Shrovetide; that is, the time of confession.
The preparation for Lent by a careful sacramental confession of sins, is most salutary and expedient; nay often indispensably necessary, especially to persons engaged in a state of mortal sin: above all, if this be habitual; if the bands of this dismal slavery be not broken, the fasts and devotions of Lent lose the greater part of their advantages; for no good works can be satisfactory or meritorious, through the infinite price of our redemption, and the most gracious divine promise, unless performed in the state of grace, or in holy charity, by which they are grafted in Christ, as branches in the trunk of the vine. They are sanctified, and find acceptance of God, by this condition of holy charity in Christ, and by the dispositions of sincere repentance and compunction, and the fruit of the sacrament of penance worthily received, before entering upon this holy penitential course." The Moveable Feasts, Fasts, and Other Annual Observances of the Catholic Church By Rev. Fr. Alban Butler