Prayer, fasting and almsgiving

These three things make up the central aspects of Lent. We are called to pray more. The Stations of the Cross, a prayer that traces fourteen scenes of "stations" between the conviction and crucifixion of Jesus, is a very popular one. People also go to daily mass, pray the rosary, or do some more personal types of praying. Fasting came up in the readings today and it prompted me to think about an aspect of fasting that is so often associated with the readings. Fasting is for something. We don't fast just to improve ourselves. We fast to improve our relationship with other people as well. Fasting is not just dieting. Fasting is avoiding something in order to use the time and resources to do that for something else. So, we avoid high priced meats on Fridays and ask people to eat simpler. Don't go to Red Lobster or buy expensive fish. Use the money you would have spent on a nice dinner for the poor. And on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, we are called to have one good meal and two meals that shouldn't equal the one big meal. Use the extra time you have to pray or visit an elderly relative. Or go and visit someone in prison. Or call that relative that doesn't have very much money and take them to lunch. The point is that God isn't calling us increase our pocketbooks by having simpler food. Nor is God calling us to eat healthier. Nor is God calling us to some weird menu item that we wouldn't otherwise try. God is calling us to stop caring so much about ourselves for a while and care about other people.

Ash Wednesday

"Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel"

or

"Remember, you are dust and unto dust you shall return"

Both of these phrases will be uttered by countless numbers of priests and lay people as they receive smudged crosses on their foreheads in penitence for the upcoming forty days of Lent. Are we crazy? Are we gluttons for punishment? Hardly! We are people who remind themselves once a year that we make mistakes. We are people who want to make up for those mistakes. The ashes are not outward signs as the Pharisees are criticized for displaying in the gospel. They are an outward statement of inward conversion that we are pledging to do for the next seven weeks of Lent (Forty days is seven weeks when you don't count Sundays - The Lord's Day!) Just like a team will wear matching jerseys so the members of the church begin with a matching smudge of dirt to remind us of one thing...nobody's perfect.