We need to allow Jesus free entry into our personal lives. A sign that God is active in our lives is Him entering in to our personal, “private” lives. Jesus wants to “get personal” with us, especially during this Lenten Season. Jesus wants to get into our “private” lives because we have a “private” personal life which is contrary to the will of God. Christ wishes to come into that “private” life, not to embarrass us, not to judge or condemn us, not to be unkind or malicious to us, but to free us, to change us, and to offer us what we really need: living water.
Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving. These are the three pillars of Lent. “Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated,” St. Peter Chrysologus says. “If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God’s ear to yourself.”