Lent, an invitation for prayer and conversion

Father Romeo Salinas is Vocations Director for the Diocese of
Corpus Christi.

James Akin, the Senior Apologist for Catholic Answers, defines Lent as the 40-day period before Easter, excluding Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends before the Holy Mass of Last Supper.  Lent is a period of prayer and fasting which we observe in imitation of Christ using a 40-day period of prayer and fasting “to prepare for the celebration of his ministry’s climax, Good Friday—the day of the crucifixion—and Easter Sunday—the day of the resurrection.” 

Quoting from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Akin says “‘For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning (Heb 4:15)’. By the solemn 40 days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert (CCC 540).”

Lent is an invitation from Mother Church to prayer and conversion; it is an incentive for us to change and get closer to Jesus today, not tomorrow. Conversion in our families and in the world begins with us. We become a light; we witness Christ to others by example. We live the beatitudes, the Ten Commandments, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. We recognize Christ in the least of our brethren and respond to their needs. Charity and mercy become an integral part of our behavior towards others. As St. Therese of Lisieux so often said, “No act of love is too small for God.” 

We must strive daily to get closer to Jesus. Lent affords us that opportunity, and we must remember that all we seek is in Jesus. St. Teresa of Avila reminds us “Blessed is the one who truly loves him and keeps him near. Love calls for love in return.” 

At Christmas, Jesus blessed us from his mother’s arms; during Lent, he blesses us from the cross.

Lent is a good time to surrender all our past to Christ; let our Lord handle all; let go of all evil, anger, condemnation of others, jealousy and all we never confessed; give all to Christ. We must renounce evil and temptation as Jesus did in his encounters with Satan in the desert. 

In sin, no one can be happy. We want to say no to things that have no value. This leaves us time to concentrate on wonderful practices that confer great graces; bring us closer to Christ; and help us learn to love with God’s love:  an unconditional love that fills us with peace, joy and holiness, and places God first in our lives.

Lent is so beautiful, because we are all working together to become closer to Jesus, to achieve conversion as we change our life practices to better emulate the example Jesus set for us to be gracious and merciful; slow to anger; rich in kindness; relenting in punishment (Joel 2:12-18).  

As a Church, we are given so many opportunities to turn to God and open our hearts to him together. Begin everything at Lent. Start now. Begin with baby steps, for prayer life begins with a little prayer. Just start on Ash Wednesday, and add a little at a time. What kind of effort and participation can we make a daily practice during Lent, and hopefully continue after Lent, to become closer to Christ? 

All the practices that comprise Lenten sacrifice are already in place and reward us with great graces.  

1. Fasting and prayer
2. Daily Mass
3. Confession and penance
4. Holy Communion
5. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
6. Daily rosary
7. Daily reading of Scripture
8. Daily prayers for the Holy Souls in Purgatory 
9. Gaining indulgences for ourselves or other deceased 

Starting each day with the Fatima Sacrifice Prayer and offering up an action or some suffering in a spirit of sacrifice.

“Oh, my Jesus,

  I offer this for love of thee,

  For the conversion of sinners,

  And in reparation for the sins

  Committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” 

With prayer and fasting, we resist Satan and all evil and all he wants to destroy in our lives. With prayer, God enters our hearts, and we become open to God’s will.  As we do his will, we achieve the holiness which is within our reach. God enters our hearts and places in them a desire for heaven, for salvation and for eternity.

Jesus allowed St. Faustina Kowalska many visions in her lifetime, all of which were recorded in her diary, together with conversations she had with Christ regarding his great love and unfathomable divine mercy which he held for all souls. In one  vision (Notebook I, sec. 153) she describes two roads she saw.  One was broad, covered with flowers and all sorts of pleasures. People walked and danced along this easy path, and when they reached the end of the road without realizing it, they fell over a horrible precipice into the abyss of hell. The other road she saw was a narrow, rocky path strewn with thorns and rocks, and all the people walking this path suffered greatly. Yet, at the road’s end lay a magnificent garden filled with great happiness and all these souls entered there. Which road do we travel in our lives? Are we journeying for unbelief to faith, and from sin to salvation gained in the death of Christ?

In another vision Jesus gave to St. Faustina (Notebook I, sec. 446) she saw the Lord nailed to the cross. Many others hung on crosses crucified like him. A second group of people were not nailed to their crosses, but carried them firmly in their hands. A third group dragged their crosses behind them in discontent. Jesus said to her, “Those who are like me in the pain and contempt they suffer will be like me also in glory. And those who resemble me less in pain and contempt will also bear less resemblance to me in glory.”  

How do we carry our own crosses? Do we clutch them tightly to our hearts, with joy, patience and love or do we carry them with anger and impatience, dragging them in the mud? Let us resolve during this Lenten season to carry our crosses with patience and love, understanding the merits we gain through our suffering, and offering that suffering to Christ on his cross. 

We must surrender totally to God: love Him with all our heart, mind and soul; love our neighbors as ourselves; have God in the first place in our lives; pray with our hearts; decide completely for God; receive sacraments we have not received; remember always that our first vocation is holiness (doing God’s will), and that holiness brings the salvation for which Christ died to gain for us.

Sweet Jesus, make us worthy of your love and mercy and of the salvation you wrought for us on the cross.