By Vimal Kumar csc –
Readings: Joel 2:12-18; 2 Cor 5:20-6:2; Mt 6:1-6, 16-18
Ash Wednesday inaugurates the forty days of the Lenten season with an invite to deepen our bond with God and practice the three salient hallmarks of Church: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
All these pillars are interconnected. Without prayer, our fasting and almsgiving have no fruit. Without almsgiving, our prayers and fasting have no root; without fasting, both prayers and almsgiving have no authenticity.
In today’s gospel, Jesus teaches these pillars to obtain the grace and blessings during this season of Lent. Prayer invokes us to express our love for God and for our friends. As people of God, we have a responsibility of praying for others, especially for Covid-19 patients, migrants, unity, and peace.
Fasting helps us to forgo all sorts of evil addictions (alcohol, drugs, gadgets, etc.), anger, pride, ego, greed, gossip, and lust. Almsgiving helps us to feel the compassionate Jesus in our actions by rendering our selfless service to society. This could be either monetary help, or spending time with those who are depressed, lonely, and abandoned or comforting the sick.
Compared to other liturgical seasons of the Church, we feel burdensome during Lenten season because it is a direct demand to give up something to empty ourselves. The fact Jesus teaches us here is that it is by giving that we receive. Jesus gave himself up for us and we received eternal salvation.
Likewise, when we give up something to fulfill the demands of the three pillars: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving,we receive his choicest blessings and abundant graces in return during Lenten season. Let us have a meaningful and graceful Lent.