Lent is nigh! On Wednesday 2 March, we begin the great season of Lent – a wonderful time of 40 days when we prepare ourselves for the celebration of Easter and the Passover of the Lord from death to life. It is a time of healing when we ask God to renew within us His love. We seek by God’s grace to cast off the old ways and to take on the new, that is, to die with Christ – and to rise again with Him to new life.
Lent is not simply about “giving things up” or “doing something extra”. St Leo reminds us there are three saving works:
- self-denial, fasting and mortification;
- prayer and devotion, study and reflection; and
- charitable outreach or almsgiving.
Although these works are good in themselves, we don’t do them for their own sake. True, fasting may be good for our physical health – and almsgiving is a really practical means of helping the poor. Yet we do these works out of love for God! We do them in order to bring about change in our inner selves and spiritual lives. We do them as a penance for our sins. We do them as a prayer for God’s mercy that we may come to a deeper relationship with Him.
We will feature resources over the Lenten season on the website to make this special time more meaningful for you.