Lent---an invitation to open our hearts to God's grace!
Lent---an invitation to open our hearts to God's grace!
Lent is forty days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday. The season of Lent is a season of preparation to celebrate the Lord’s resurrection at Easter. It is a time of renewal of faith and faithfully following his footsteps. Pope Francis began his 2025 Lenten message with these words: “We begin our annual pilgrimage of Lent in faith and hope with the penitential rite of the imposition of ashes. The Church, our mother and teacher, invites us to open our hearts to God’s grace, so that we can celebrate with great joy the paschal victory of Christ the Lord over sin and death, which led Saint Paul to exclaim: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor15:54-55).
Ash Wednesday is the Church’s ‘Day of Atonement’. It is not only the first of the forty days of Lent, but along with Good Friday, the Church describes it as a day of complete fasting and abstinence from meat for Catholics from the age of 18 to 59, meaning only one full meal and two smaller meals not equal to a full meal are permitted. Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence from meat. These are not just a rule for the season of Lent but a means to grow in our relationship with God and others, so as the Pope said, “We can celebrate with great joy the paschal victory of Christ the Lord over sin and death.”
In his Lenten message, Pope Francis invites us to reflect on three points. He says, “First of all, to journey.” Then, he reminds us about the first exodus from slavery to freedom. Then he gives us these questions: “Am I really on a journey, or am I standing still, not moving, either immobilized by fear and hopelessness or reluctant to move out of my comfort zone? Am I seeking ways to leave behind the occasions of sin and situations that degrade my dignity?” Then he says, “Second, to journey together” – an invitation to walk together – a synodal journey. His final point is, “Third, let us journey together in hope, for we have been given a promise. May the hope that does not disappoint(cf.Rom5:5), the central message of the Jubilee, be the focus of our Lenten journey towards the victory of Easter.” He says it is a call to conversion. Then he asks us a couple of questions: “Am I convinced that the Lord forgives my sins? Or do I act as if I can save myself? Do I long for salvation and call upon God’s help to attain it? Do I concretely experience the hope that enables me to interpret the events of history and inspires in me a commitment to justice and fraternity, to care for our common home and in such a way that no one feels excluded?”
The readings for Ash Wednesday remind us of the spiritual nature of the Lenten season. The first reading is from the book of Prophet Joel. The message of the book of Joel can be summoned up as a call to repentance in the face of coming judgment, which the prophet refers to as “the day of the Lord.” He insists in the reading that we should experience a complete conversion of heart and not simply sorrow for our sins. In the book of Leviticus 16:30, we read, “For on this day atonement is made for you to make you clean; of all your sins you will be cleansed before the LORD.”
In the second reading, Saint Paul says that Christ took on our humanity and became the victim in a sacrificial act so “we might become the righteousness of God.” The sacrifice of Christ has infinite value and enables us to be reconciled to God.
Today’s Gospel instructs us to embrace the true spirit of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. This passage is part of the Sermon on the Mount, which begins in chapter 5 and ends in chapter 7. In this Gospel reading, the sermon continues with a warning against doing good to be seen and gives three examples: almsgiving (Mt 6:2–4), prayer (Mt 6:5–15), and fasting (Mt 6:16–18).
Forty days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are a way to remove the obstacles to loving God and others. They are also a time to experience the spirit of poverty and come closer to those in need. Lent is a time to die so we can rise with Christ at Easter with a renewed spirit of life.
What can I do this Lent? A simple suggestion: 1. Take a few minutes for daily prayer (please include praying on our prayer card, which is a prayer for our cluster community). 2. Find time to attend Mass every Sunday. And if you go every Sunday, try to find time for weekday Mass at least once or twice. Or go for the Stations of the Cross. 3. Pray for one or two of your friends/families each week and invite them for the weekend Mass and come with them for Mass. The evangelization team is preparing a lot more opportunities, like book study, retreat, prayer cards, etc, to make this Lenten season meaningful.
Once again, I will be posting a weekly Lenten message on YouTube and my Facebook page. Lenten book study, stations of the cross, retreat, etc., are wonderful opportunities to invite friends who do not regularly go to Mass or even non-Catholic friends. Evangelization starts with prayer, which leads to a personal invitation.