The three pillars of Lent are well known: almsgiving, prayer and fasting. We still speak readily of Lenten efforts. In fact, to approach God, asceticism is a demanding path that is not without renunciation. But it is often considered only from a personal point of view. But Lent is also a community process.
The call to conversion is addressed to all ecclesial communities and we must support each other to fulfill our commitments. Moreover, these efforts are not only aimed at an interior transformation of people: they contribute to the conversion of all our relationships, those that we maintain with ourselves, our neighbours, the poor, God, the whole of his Creation…
Thus almsgiving is an invitation to renew our attention to the smallest and most vulnerable and to show concrete solidarity with those who are going through hardship. It’s not just about money. There is certainly a charity of the presence, of the time given. Prayer, both personal and communal, is the way par excellence to revitalize and strengthen our relationship with God and to honor him as the Creator and Savior of all things.
Finally, fasting, which is not confined to food, allows us to sort out the futile and the essential and therefore to find ourselves, to reconnect with the desire and the taste for what really matters, to release our pressure on earth and to show solidarity with the poorest. In a way, all our efforts count. On condition that we do not forget that it is God himself who gives us the gift of almsgiving, prayer and fasting and enables us to do so. This is precisely where our conversion is at stake: recognizing and accepting that, without him, we can do nothing (cf. Jn 15:5) even though he is counting on us to make the world a better place.
from Dominique Greiner,
rédacteur en chef de Croire-La Croix