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The Three Paths to Easter
"The Church has set out for Easter. It is a journey of penitence, or of deep review of our life. We are called to examine our practical acceptance of the Gospel... To help us in this effort, the Church points out to us a path that can be summarized in three words: prayer, fasting, almsgiving.
Prayer can have many expressions, personal and communal. But we must above all live its essence, listening to God who speaks to us... In addition to being an external practice, fasting, which consists in the moderation of food and life-style, is a sincere effort to remove from our hearts all that is the result of sin and inclines us to evil. Almsgiving, far from being reduced to an occasional offering of money, means assuming an attitude of sharing and acceptance. We need only to open our eyes to see beside us so many brothers and sisters who are suffering materially and spiritually. Thus Lent is a forceful invitation to solidarity."
John Paul II, 16 February 1997 Angelus, http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP970216.HTM
posted by Holly at 5:40 PM
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What to do for Lent?
Prayer - finding time to sit and be with God - to listen in reflection on Scripture or a good spiritual reading book chosen just for Lent. How can this be worked into the Mother's Rule?
Fasting - from a certain sin like bickering, or lying, or...; from our physical desires for sweets or smoking or...; from secular television or shopping unnecessarily or...
Almsgiving - more than financial aid to the poor , but not necessarily excluding financial aid to the poor. Checked out Food for the Poor? St Anthony's Bread? Missionaries of Charity? Or any other good aid society? Why not get the kids to help with the money saved from cutting out sweets?
But also, how to share with the poor in our area? Or how to share spiritually with the poor thru solidarity in our lifestyle? To give up what we do not need to live like our brothers and sisters who are poor, and to donate the rest?
Many many ways to observe Lent and make it fruitful. Let's talk to our families and see what we can do to observe the 3 paths to Easter - for if the family can choose a joint action in one area or more, we become a support to each other, as we are called to be as family.
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