“By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19)
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the forty day season before Easter. Catholics are obliged to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays during the liturgical season, and deepen their faith through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
Padre Pio explains how we can walk with Christ during this Lenten season.
I heartily recommend that you take concern to have your heart be more pleasing to our Master day by day. Do things in such a way that the current year will be more fruitful in good works than the last. The years are passing by, and we are approaching eternity, so we need to redouble our courage and lift our souls up to God, serving him with more diligence in everything that our Christian vocation or profession requires of us. This alone can make us pleasing to God. It can free us from the world that is not of him and from all our other enemies. Only this can enable us to arrive at the gate of eternal salvation.
Reflect, today, upon these three simple words: pray, fast and give.
Seek to live these qualities in a hidden way known only to God this Lent. If you do so, the Lord will begin to do greater wonders in your life than you may currently realize are possible. He will free you from the selfishness that often binds us and will enable you to love Him and others on a whole new level.
My penitential Lord, I give myself to You this Lent. I freely choose to enter into the desert of these 40 days and choose to pray, fast and give of myself to an extent I have never done before. I pray that this Lent will be a time in which I am transformed interiorly by You. Set me free, dear Lord, from all that keeps me from loving You and others with all my heart. Jesus, I trust in You.
How To Pray This Lent
How To Fast This Lent
How To Give Alms This Lent
