Undertake three practices for Lent

Intermountain Catholic

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In last week’s reflection, I talked about "giving things up" for Lent. At this time, I would like to talk about three practices that are rooted in Scripture and strongly encouraged by the Catholic Church. While some of them do invite us to do without, they are all grounded in a positive approach that leads to growth in the spiritual life. These practices help us to live in greater harmony with our true selves, with one another and with Jesus Christ. The three practices are fasting, almsgiving and prayer.

The first practice, that of fasting, does certainly involve "giving things up;" specifically, eating less. The purpose of this Lenten observance is to remind me that I am empty without Christ. It stirs within me a hunger for Christ. In the United States, where I have so much, I purposely do without so that I can be reminded of my true self, a self that needs Christ to be fulfilled. As St. Ignatius says, we are created to be one with God forever in heaven and nothing, absolutely nothing, can take the place of God. My hunger reminds me of this.

The second practice is almsgiving. In this observance, I am called to reach out to the poor in the community. It is important to note that this is not really charity (even if we can use it as a tax deduction). Rather, it is giving to my own. Because my fasting brings me to a deeper realization of my own poverty, it makes sense that I would want to reach out to those who are poor like me, though more noticeably so.

Of course, in doing this, I also see the face of Christ in them, which leads us to the third practice, that of prayer.

My own poverty, made more real for me by fasting, leads me to call out to God for help. My most fundamental poverty is death. No matter how much I accumulate, no matter how important I think I am, at death I have absolutely nothing. They asked how much money Rockefeller left, and the answer was: all of it! Only God can satisfy my deepest longings, my deepest poverty. Only God can give me eternal life. And so I call out to God in prayer during Lent and God answers that prayer at Easter.

While giving things up may certainly be appropriate, it would be good this Lent to take seriously these three time-honored observances of fasting, almsgiving and prayer. We will all be the better for it. God will see to that!