Over the many Seasons of Lent we have lived, what continues to be impressed upon us by the Church is the need to fast, the need to pray, and need to give alms. These “disciplines” are the key means in which we are able to enter into an even deeper relationship with the God who created us and loves us. Relationship is the key word here.
We live lives always in relationship with something. We have a relationship with the things we have or own, for example, cars, homes, cell phones, tablets, food, to name just a few. We have a relationship with the things that we do, work, sports, and other entertainments. The relationship we have with these things can dominate our lives. The 3 disciplines of Lent allow us to “refocus” the relationships that may overwhelm our lives.
Fasting from the relationships we may have with the things we own or the things we do, frees us to be more in relationship with God. Following the example of Jesus, prayer is a very intimate way in which we commune with God. While Mass is the ultimate prayer, let us pray daily. Prayer is not confined to the rote prayer we learned as kids. Among the myriad number of ways to pray are walking in nature, meditation, reading scripture, the rosary. We need to find the way we pray best, and then do it daily. Giving alms allows us to enter into a relationship with the presence of God in others. The means by which we give alms is as many as the ways to pray. We may give money to worthy causes. However, we may better give alms volunteering our time to help others. Visiting someone who is sick or homebound, volunteering in our child’s school, or at church, or in our community. Spending more quality time with our own children are all ways to “give alms”.
Lent is more than just giving up chocolate. Lent is about building a deeper relationship with God through the time honored disciplines of fasting, prayer, and alms giving.
