Fr. German’s Message
Next Wednesday
February 22nd, the forty days of preparation for Passover begins for
Christians. Our celebration will be held the night of April 7th.
On Ash Wednesday, the Church will mark our foreheads with the sign of the
cross while telling us, "Repent and believe in the Gospel."
During these forty days we will reflect on the forty years of the Exodus of
God's people moving from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land. In
the same way we will reflect on the 40 days Jesus lived in the desert, while he
prepared to face and overcome the temptations of the devil and to begin his
public life.
Lent is a time of grace which the Church gives us to prepare to live the
resurrection of Christ with a pure heart.
Fasting, prayer and sharing are actions that we will live a little more
intensely during this period of Lent. These three actions invite us to abandon
our selfishness (fasting) to open our lives to God (praying) and open our lives
to our brothers and sisters (sharing).
True Lent should be inspired by these three elements together: fasting,
prayer and sharing.
Fasting invites us to deprive ourselves of many things we eat or buy and
which we often do not use or are not necessary or indispensable to our
existence.
Fasting allows us to reflect on what is essential and what is superficial
of all we possess.
Thanks to fasting we can economize at the same time we share with those who
need it.
Thus, fasting and sharing are intimately linked. When we deprive ourselves
of something this allows us to share with our brothers and sisters.
Sharing is also a very important activity in the life of every man and
woman. Our parents taught us to share what we have with others so they can live
better in community.
Sharing allows us to think of others and overcome our selfishness that
locks us into our own lives and away from others.
Christian sharing requires that we look upon those who have less than we
do, and share our material and spiritual goods. Do not forget that sharing does
not obey the laws of mathematics, because the more we share, the richer we are.
Try the experience and you will discover the law of sharing will multiply
the wealth of the one who shares.
Besides fasting and sharing, prayer is the third activity that we should
live intensely in this time of Lent.
As with sharing, prayer helps us out of ourselves and our selfishness to go
to others. Prayer opens our hearts and our lives to God's presence.
Through prayer we invite God to share our daily lives. Prayer is a dialogue
with the One who created us and who wants to live next to us to enlighten and
guide us to peace, to happiness, to the Resurrection.
Let us use this Lent to live fasting, sharing and prayer more deeply, so we can
say the night of Easter: that during this time of Lent we heard the Gospel and
we were converted.
Happy entry into Lent.
Fr. Germán February 18th/19th
2012
