Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Let us fast and Repent



Today begin a great season and time to return to the Lord. He is inviting us to make this season as a time for us to enter into personal reflection and search. This season offers us a time to seriously examine our life and bring about conversion of ourselves. We are all weak and fall into temptations because the spirit of the Lord is not in us or we have taken our call very lightly. Sometimes we just dont want to screen our lives and find out what are the dark spots which we need to remove in order to in union with the Lord and one another.Thus, Lent comes as a time of grace to help us fight against this state of non-conversion. Today's readings are an announcement of this period of battle by reminding us of the weapons we need in this combat which are fasting, prayer and almsgiving. Putting our bodies "on a diet" so to say, by fasting from food as well as from other things that give us pleasure (such as smoking, movies, computers, liquor, etc.) will be a help to put our spirit on a diet from sin. Prayer will help us fight against our pride that wants everything to go our way for prayer is always an acknowledgement that there is a God who leads our history. Almsgiving is the weapon that fights against our love for money. As long as money is something that rules our lives we lack wisdom to see our reality of sin. That is why the psalmist in Ps 51 prays: "Teach me the secrets of wisdom," for without wisdom, we lack insight regarding ourselves. During this Lent, may we receive a contrite spirit, as the psalmist says, which is a heart full of sorrow for our sins. 






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