Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Ash Wednesday | USCCB
Today we start our forty-day journey of Lent. It’s a
time when we take a look at ourselves and our relationship with God and with
our neighbors. We are called during these 40 days to remember that we are to
love the Lord God with our whole mind, heart, and soul and to love our
neighbors as ourselves.
In our first reading from the prophet Joel, we hear
the Lord tell us “…return to me with your whole heart…” We are to not only turn
to God with praise and worship on our lips, but we are also to have that sincere
love of God within our hearts as well. God can see through our souls to our
hearts to see whether we’re being sincere in our praise of Him. Joel goes on to tell us that the Lord is “gracious and merciful, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.” This season of
Lent is reminding us of this love that God has for us. But we need to realize
that we are sinful, and we need to turn to him with sincerity and a heart full
of repentance.
In the gospel our Lord is further reminding us that we
are not to do these acts of penance and works of charity so that others can see
how good and holy we are. Jesus tells us, “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them…” It’s not about what other people may
think about who we are in the eyes of God when we do these things. We are not
to do these acts of charity with the idea of getting praise from other people,
but rather to develop a deeper and more loving relationship with God.
Throughout these 40 days of Lent, let us not worry
about giving up something, like a favorite food or chocolate or ice cream, but
rather doing something extra for the Lord that we normally don’t get a chance
to do. For instance, waking up a little earlier in the morning to spend quiet
time with God, reading scripture and just being opened to what God is trying to
say to you through scripture. Another way of commemorating Lent is by, in
addition to Sunday mass, making an effort to attend a weekday mass. This way,
in addition to the graces we receive from attending Mass on Sunday, we get
additional grace from receiving our Lord in Holy Communion during the week.
Further, we need to make time, between now and Easter, to go to confession.
Confession is a great way to develop that closer relationship with God during Lent.
It is during confession that we receive the gift of forgiveness of our sins.
St. Teresa of Calcutta once said, “Give your heart to God, deliberately, knowingly, willingly.
It belongs to him.” Let’s give our hearts to God during this Lent and let Him
know that we love Him and want Him as the center of who we are. Then, as Jesus
says in todays Gospel, “And your father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”
Arlene B. Muller
ReplyDeleteYES, I think I need to examine how close or far away I am to loving GOD with my whole heart, my whole soul, my whole mind & my whole strength.
I know that I avoid obvious sins & that I am committed to obeying the LORD'S commandments & the commandments of the Church & to serving GOD & to helping others. I acknowledge that in my service I have mixed motives: serving GOD makes me happy partly because I want to please GOD, partly because I am doing things I enjoy, partly because I believe that I am doing what I am good at & it gives me meaning, purpose, a sense of significance, some pride & ego gratification & gives me approval from others. I guess that's pretty normal, but I guess I have to remind myself of how much all of this is a gift from GOD that I didn't earn & to grow in my devotion to Him. I can ask Him to help me love Him more & more & to recognize my more subtle & hidden sins, such as when & where I cross the line between being righteous & being self-righteous.
The practices of Lent include prayer, fasting & almsgiving. You covered prayer very well. Personally I need to restrict some of the time I spend on social media to exercise self discipline to do my Morning & Evening Prayer & to do spiritual reading & I began yesterday. This week is easier since I'm off from work & recuperating from a cold. The challenge will be when I have less time next week.
Besides the minimum requirements of abstaining from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday & all the Fridays of Lent & fasting on Ash Wednesday & Good Friday (which most people over 59 are still able to do without getting weak or damaging our health) I personally think that some sort of dietary restrictions can be good for our personal health (cholesterol, blood pressure, prevent heart disease & Type II diabetes) as well as our personal appearance & that Lent can provide some extra incentive. I know that I tend to eat a lot of cake & ice cream which causes me to gain weight, so I actually give things up for Lent more for me than for GOD, but then I can offer what I give up with my mixed motives to GOD, being honest about it instead of pretending I am holy--just as I am--and then I can calculate the money I saved from not buying that slice of cake or dish of ice cream & use that money for almsgiving. My parish hands out mite boxes which we can hand in at the end of Lent.
When we take the money that we save from giving up some favorite foods--our "fasting"--we are actually doing something positive, because the money adds up & we probably could wind up giving $100 or more by the end of Lent to our parishes or the missions or to some other Catholic ministry such as a pro-life ministry to help people in need & advance the Kingdom of GOD.
You are RIGHT that the emphasis should be more on doing positive things than focusing on fasting, but if we balance prayer, fasting (and we're lucky that much of this is voluntary) & almsgiving we can have a blessed & fruitful Lent.