Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving have traditionally been the three pillars of Lent. Jesus warns us against engaging in these practices for show, for building up our public reputation. Instead, we are to pray, fast, and give alms in secret in order to receive our recompense from God. But what is it that we gain from these practices? What is our recompense?
Prayer is the fundamental orientation of ourselves on God. As St. Augustine so famously said at the start of his Confessions, "You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You." God made us out of love to share his love with us. As human beings, we are fundamentally incomplete. We are driven by a deep inner hunger, a profound yearning for something greater than ourselves. Only when we accept God's love and give our love to God in return can we find true fulfillment.
Fasting helps us in our quest for complete self-giving to God. Fasting helps us gain a sense of discipline over our desires, which often drive us to seek ultimate fulfilment in sources of ephemeral, temporary satisfaction. By fasting, we can cleanse our heart and mind of the many distractions that crowd in and weigh us down.
Almsgiving helps us to focus outside of ourselves. God loves each of us infinitely. We cannot love God without also loving all those whom God loves, which includes every single person on our planet. God's vision for humanity is not to love us in isolation, as if we were all in separate silos from each other. God wants his love to flow through each of us to each other, creating a web of love encompassing all of humanity. As we share our resources with those less fortunate than ourselves, we become channels of God's love for others and help to bring to fruition God's vision of love.
Through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving we open ourselves up to God's love. The recompense for our Lenten discipline is God himself. This Lent we should seek only one thing: God's divine, eternal, infinite love - which is everything.
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The readings for Ash Wednesday, Cycle B, are:
Jl 2:12-18
Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17
2 Cor 5:20—6:2
Mt 6:1-6, 16-18
The full text can be found at the USCCB website.
Photo Credit: 1st Century Synangoge at Magdala By Zoltan Abraham (c) 2016.