Today is the start of Lent and we celebrate it with a public acknowledgment of our mortality through the imposition of ashes on our foreheads. Lent is a journey with God. We start with the fragility of our existence and journey with him to the glory of the Resurrection, the reality that we are meant to live forever. It will not be an easy journey. It is fraught with difficulties and suffering, culminating with the way of the cross and the crucifixion. To ordinary human eyes, the journey ends in defeat and ignominy. To people of faith, it is the door we must pass to get to the next level.
My Lenten journey is building and strengthening my relationship with my God. It is very personal and strictly between him and me. He himself has taught how I can build and strengthen that relationship: through alms-giving, through prayers and through fasting. And because it is just between God and me, I will do these things away from the public eye. I shall give what I can but I will do it humbly and anonymously. I will pray but I will do it in silence and in private. I will fast but no one will ever know. And in humility and anonymity, in the silence and privacy, and in the hiddenness and simplicity of my life, I shall be alone with my God ~ getting closer to him, loving him more each day and serving him better through the people I meet.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you. Matthew 6:1-6.16-18