"Lent comes... to reawaken us, to shake us from our lethargy". Pope Francis.
Lent is once again at our door - a sacred season given to us not to burden us, but to heal us. These forty days are an invitation from the Lord to slow down, to listen more deeply, and to allow Him to reshape our hearts. Through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we do not prove our holiness; we make room for God's mercy.
Forty days were chosen as the time of preparation because it was symbolic of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness before embarking on his public ministry. Forty days also recalls the 40 years that the Israelites wandered in the desert before entering the promised land.
We are not just spiritual beings, but also physical entities, and the way to the soul is through the body. That's why the Lenten discipline has historically centered on the "Big Three" of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
Fasting is not a spiritual diet. By denying our bodies, our physical hunger reminds us of the hunger of our souls for God and our longing for a deeper relationship with him. An emphasis on Prayer is a way to stir up our love for God by having a deeper conversation with Him. Almsgiving teaches us to separate ourselves from material possessions. By freely giving, we learn to trust the Lord more deeply for our daily needs.
I invite you to walk this Lenten journey together as a community. Come with honesty, come with your wounds, come with your desire to begin again. God is not tired of us. He is waiting for us. May this Len draw us closer to Christ, who walks with us to the cross - and leads us beyond it to new life. Let us begin this holy season with hope.
