Lent and Spiritual Renewal

Wednesday, March 1st, 2023 Gospel Reflection

One week in and the sugar withdrawals are hitting. I haven’t been this angry in a long time and a reflection yesterday had me breaking out the sackcloth.

"The fast of Lent has no advantage to us unless it brings about our spiritual renewal. It is necessary while fasting to change our whole life and practice virtue. Turning away from all wickedness means keeping our tongue in check, restraining our anger, avoiding all gossip, lying and swearing. To abstain from these things—herein lies the true value of the fast."
–St. John Chrysostom

Today, let us focus on Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Luke: "This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.” (Lk 11:29-30)

We are the generation in which the Son of Man is the sign. Are we going to respond to Christ’s call for a spiritual renewal in which we follow the example of the Ninevites in true repentance or are we going to allow this Lent to be another lukewarm experience of “just getting through” the next forty days. Are we allowing the sufferings to bend our knees in the ashes of penance or are we cutting corners and saying, “I’ll be better about it next year.”

Year after liturgical year the Lord is calling us into a deeper and more fruitful time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These are not cliché words to help define the season of Lent. These are the words that, when properly applied, produce a spiritual renewal.

How can we dig in and allow this Lent to strengthen our faith, hope, and love?

·         Prayer - Humbly submitting to the holy will of God in faith.

·         Fasting - Giving up what is finite for what is infinite with the hope of eternal life with Him.

·         Almsgiving - Giving more grace than grief when we remember our own imperfections. We love because Christ first loved us.

If you would like to share your own personal moments and experiences during the first week of Lent, please comment below! We would love to hear from you as we rend our hearts and not our garments in preparation for the death and resurrection of our Lord.