Joel 2:12-18
2 Cor 5:20 – 6:2
Mt 6:1-6.16-18
Lent is late this year, but it has now finally arrived. We welcome it as a much-needed friend. We need Lent – at a personal level, as a community, right in the present time of human history. We need purification and clarification. We need to get freer in ourselves, less dependent on our whims, our passions, our small or big addictions, and more reliant on God’s grace and mercy. Our life needs some sort of simplification and refocussing on what is essential and really gives life: not the latest item of news on X or TikTok, but rather the Word of God. “The word of our God stands for ever”, says Isaiah (40:8).
Fasting
In the strength which the Word gives, we can even afford to eat less without fear. The Word tells us that “man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord” (Dt 8:3). The recipe for fasting is simple. It is about taking more real food for our real life, and less ordinary food. This is also fasting’s method. Eat less, read more. Above all: Let the Word become food of life in your mind and in your heart. Feed on the Word because it comes from the loving Heart of your Father in heaven. Open the ear of your heart, let a silent reverence take hold of your inner self, and open your Bible. Meet with Jesus and ask Him to lead you into Lent. Follow Him into the wilderness. Enter a deeper solitude. Live alone under the eyes of the One who created you, who cares for you, who silently speaks the Word of life to your heart.
Prayer
Soon, Lent will become an encounter of love between Father and child, between Jesus and each soul. It is the season for prayer. Prayer is the music of the soul which God’s Word has touched. The Word awakens the soul and the soul answers in wonder: “Is this true? Are you really my Saviour? Are you, O God, my Father?” The Spirit alone knows the answers to these questions. He guides us on the paths of prayer. He is the master of this dialogue, often a silent one, through which God and we, like two friends, grow in knowledge and love for one another. We grow in appreciation of God’s presence in our lives and in trust of Him with utmost confidence. As for God, He grows in the measure and mode He manifests His love to us, as much as we can bear it. This loving encounter is generally a very slow process. You do not feel that you are making any progress. Nevertheless, you can feel you are not exactly the same person at the end of your prayer time. Then, prayer nourishes prayer. You leave the church with a desire to come back soon. You leave God with a greater desire for God.
Almsgiving
This is the very moment when God sends you to your Brethren. You fast, you pray: this is good. Give yourself to your brother, your sister: this will be even better. There is the brother, the sister whom you can see, the one whom the Gospel calls your neighbour. He is essential; do not avoid him or her; give yourself to him or her: your time, your care, your consideration, a humble service, just a smile or a kind word. Your neighbour is a world. If you love him, if you humbly and lovingly serve him or her, then you love all. All the many others are given to you in the one who is close to you. Your neighbour is the door to universal love. Your neighbour alone can make of you a universal brother, a universal sister, a man or a woman for all. Your neighbour multiplies your love infinitely. The little act of loving service joins with Jesus’ unique service of Love to the end on the Cross. In Jesus and with Jesus, it saves the world, reveals God’s love, gives glory to the Father.
Dear Brethren, aren’t we filled with loving desire? Can’t we already feel the joy? Sure, the great joy of Easter is with us from the very beginning of Lent; the joy of God raising us up from our dust to settle us forever in the Heart of our Father.