Featured in the Gulf Pine: Volume 38 / Number 13 - February 19, 2021.
Lent is a special time – a time of reflection and conversion. It is a time of prayer, almsgiving and fasting. During the Lenten season we are particularly invited to reflect upon the life, Passion, death, and Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ – especially how it relates to our own lives, our growth in our faith, and growth in our love relationship with God.
In St. Matthew’s Gospel chapter 6, verses 1-6 and 16-18. Jesus invites us to enter into a special time of prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. The intention of this time is for us to grow as his disciples by making and allowing more space for God in our lives. Oftentimes we are so caught up in the things of life, that it really does help for each of us to have a time of reflection and openness to conversion.
Reading the lives of the great saints, the special love relationship that they have with God, Jesus, was fostered by a deep prayer life. Part of the question for each of us is “How can I grow in my prayer life?” I recommend that we enter into the prayers of the saints which include Intercessory Prayer, Ignatian Prayer, Lectio Divina and Visio Divina, (Resources and explanation of these forms of prayer can be found at our website: https://www.biloxidiocese.org/prayer-forms) along with praying the Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, and breaking open the Word. Our prayer life is about our love relationship with God, Jesus Christ. It is about opening ourselves to him and allowing him to touch all parts of our lives, especially where we need healing and peace. Jesus tells us, “But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” (Matthew 6:6)
Similarly, almsgiving is a proven way for us to keep the poor and the neediest among us close to us. A box or jar for the poor in your home will allow all the family the opportunity to contribute to the support of the work of the Church with the poor. Each time your family gathers for a meal or other occasion, encourage the support of the neediest among us. As we give alms, we do so knowing that it is part of our relationship with God. As Jesus says in Matthew’s gospel, “And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” (Matthew 6:4b)
Fasting is a physical way in which we can make spiritual room for God in our lives. Our traditions of abstaining on Fridays, the day of Our Lord’s Passion and death, and fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, are ways we enter the spirit of fasting with the intention of entering the Passion and death of Jesus more deeply. This allows us to grow in our love relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus said about fasting to his disciples and the crowds in his Sermon on the Mount that, “your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you” (Matthew 6:18b) with the Father’s love and his presence.
Prayers, alms, and fasting are excellent ways for us to make space for God in our lives and grow in our faith to enter a deeper love relationship with God. I pray that each of us may encounter Jesus in his Passion and death that we may be led to a deeper spirit of conversion – for it is in personal conversion that we can experience the empty tomb, Jesus Risen from the dead.