The Three Pillars of Lent
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February 18, 2023This Wednesday, February 22nd, we begin the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday. In this season of repentance and reflection, let us contemplate what this time means, how the three pillars of Lent lead us to a closer relationship with God, and how these three are inseparable.
The word Lent comes from an old English word meaning “spring,” or “a new birth.” This time of the year helps us to renew our lives as Catholics. These forty days allow us to journey with Jesus through his passion and death leading us to rejoice in his resurrection.
In order to be fully immersed in the Lenten experience, the Church gives us three extraordinary ways to draw closer into this mystery: Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving.
Prayer is conversation with God. It is essential for fasting and almsgiving because it gives us the strength to do them. Pope Francis said, “Lent is a privileged time for prayer.” In prayer, we draw closer in relationship with God. Relationship with God makes us grateful for the blessings we have received. Prayer is the cornerstone of our Lenten journey and is vital to all of our actions in life.
Many saints also offered their own personal reflections on what prayer is and how it unites us to God. St. Therese of Lisieux says, “Prayer is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” St. Augustine teaches us that “whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.”
Fasting and Abstinence are old traditions in Judeo-Christian history and early Lenten practice. Found in the Scriptures, they offer a way of growing closer to God. Pope Francis reminds us, “Fasting makes sense if it really chips away at our security and, as a consequence, benefits someone else…”
Almsgiving (giving) is a response to God, one that we can come to through prayer and fasting. It is a way to live out our gratitude for all that God has given us, reflecting the realization that we are the Body of Christ, responsible for each other.
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.”
Amen.
