Sunday, February 18, 2024
We began the season of Lent, the holiest time of the liturgical year, just a few days ago on Ash Wednesday. Forty days to prepare for the Resurrection of the Lord. The Church in the Ash Wednesday Gospel reading from St. Matthew directs our focus towards Jesus teaching us about praying, fasting, and almsgiving and to do them secretly. It is a time to examine our weaknesses, choices made, and habits formed, a time for abstinence and turning away from temptations and sin to build closer relationships with God and the Body of Christ. Jesus Christ’s presence in the Eucharist underscores self-denial, sacrifice, and love.
When praying, pick a distraction-free time and space every day to be in God’s presence and to attentively listen to Him for wisdom, direction, and consolation. The Church makes fasting an obligation from age 18 until age 59 and permits eating one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that, together, are not equal to a full meal. Abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all Fridays during Lent. In almsgiving, we allow God’s generosity to flow through us to needy people. Support those experiencing pain, suffering, loss, or marginalization to let them know God is with them. Follow Jesus’ example of leveling the interests and needs of others with our own.
Faithful people sometimes yield to temptations without foreseeing the consequences of poor behavior, angry words, and unholy deeds. It is like a fish being lured to satisfy a hunger without seeing the hook behind the bait. After His baptism and before He began His ministry, Jesus, while fully human, was driven by the Holy Spirit into the desert for forty days, where Satan tempted him. He conquered temptations and used the forty days in the wilderness to prepare Himself to begin His Galilean ministry.
How different do you imagine Jesus leaving the desert after fasting and praying for 40 days? As we begin this Lenten season, what difference do we imagine the 40 days of Lent will make in our lives? How much closer to God will we be as we celebrate the risen Lord on March 31, 2024?
The First reading from Genesis tells us the story of God reconciling Himself to us by establishing a covenant with Noah and his descendants after man fell from God’s grace. We then read in First Peter that Jesus, who was without sin, for our sake, suffered death for our sins so that He might lead us to God. Finally, in the Gospel, St. Mark recalls Jesus’ ongoing call to conversion, “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15). The readings unveil God’s plan of reconciliation and shows the way to redemption.
For this season of Lent, let us look anew at the familiar call for praying, fasting, and almsgiving. Let us reflect on the Good News and what it personally means to us. Then let us share the Good News with the world.
Go in Peace to Love and Serve the Lord.