We have entered into that great and sacred penitential season of Lent which invites us to delve deeper into the spiritual life that we are called to live by denying ourselves those things that we think are important and replacing them with the things that are essential to our role as disciples of Christ. Indeed, it is a time to learn the same obedience and discipline that marked Jesus’ entire life and which will unfold before us over these next few weeks.
In order for us to embrace the Lenten Season to the fullest, the Church invites into a spirit of surrender and mortification in order for us to draw closer to God’s love and mercy. She does this especially through the three pillars of the Lenten Season: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. There are many ways in which we are called to live out these pillars, but perhaps there a few suggestions that can be made to help make this Lent a special one.
PRAYER: Prayer is the anchor which keeps us steady in the midst of life’s trials. While there are plenty of things we can pray for, perhaps we might be able to pray for those we
may find difficult to love so that they, with us, may come to know the love of God that we enjoy.
FASTING: While we know that the Church calls us to abstain from meat on the Fridays of Lent and sets aside Ash Wednesday and Good Friday for fasting, maybe we can choose to abstain from meat or some other luxury that we did not give up on another day of the week so that we might be able to further discipline ourselves to go against the tide of our unhealthy desire so that we may follow God’s will for our lives.
ALMSGIVING: There are many opportunities to help our brothers and sisters. We may do it financially through sacrificial giving to our parish or through the diocesan efforts of the South Jersey Catholic Ministries Appeal. We can also give of our time to serve the needs of our communities or even to give extra time to those in our own homes.
Jesus is inviting us to embrace this season as a time of spiritual growth and renewal. May we seize on the opportunity so that we might be able to live the Paschal Mysteries to the full this Lent and Easter and all the days of our lives.
Fr. Carlo Santa Teresa