Let us pray for each other during Lent

The words used in the distribution of ashes on Ash Wednesday, express to us two essential truths of our lives. We have sinned; we are sinners. This we hear in the words “Repent and believe in the Good News.” Secondly, we are reminded that we are mortals and we have no lasting home here on earth; “Remember, man, you are dust and unto dust you will return.”

God has called all of us into a covenant relationship with him through Jesus Christ. Through him, the love of God has been poured into our hearts and his words have the power to enflame our hearts and lives. 

Sin is our turning away and isolating ourselves from the treasure which is ours. To turn back to God and be reconciled is the meaning of conversion. And, so throughout Lent we do not fret over the fact that we have sinned–we take this time to seek forgiveness and begin a new life of grace through conversion.

With our heart set on “the things to come (Col 2:17)” we do not lament that life is short and seek to hold on to things, but we rejoice that Love is calling us to eternal love and joy forever in his presence.

Lent is a time of conversion. The season summons us and enables us to come back to the Lord with a renewed spirit to live for the Lord in every aspect of our life.

In his Lenten message this year, Pope Francis spoke of a “cold heart.” The pope cited the passage from the Gospel of Matthew in which Jesus said that amidst the many evils of the world that “the love of many will grow cold (Mt 24:12).” The pope also shared Dante Alighieri’s description of hell in which Dante pictures the devil seated on a throne of ice in frozen and loveless isolation (Inferno XXXIV, 28-29). 

Our classical understanding of hell has been the place where devils, fire and heat will torment us forever. Instead, Dante already in the 14th century perceived the torture of life when one’s heart turns to “ice” (is cold) in relationship to God and others and how life can become “loveless isolation.” This is a good meditation for us during Lent asking ourselves if we have fallen victim to a cold lack of charity. 

What are the signs that may indicate that our love is beginning to go cold?

Particularly, given our present social context, the Holy Father reminds us that: “what destroys charity is greed for money, ‘the root of all evils (1 Tim 6:10)’. The rejection of God and his peace soon follows; we prefer our own desolation rather than the comfort found in his word and the sacraments. All this leads to violence against anyone we think is a threat to our own “certainties”: the unborn child, the elderly and infirm, the migrant, the alien among us or our neighbor who does not live up to our expectations.”

Continuing, the Holy Father expresses concern for our communities, families and our relationships where love can also grow cold. The most evident signs of this communal lack of love are selfishness and spiritual laziness, pessimism and a lack of hope, the temptation to self-absorption, constant bickering and fighting among ourselves, and the worldly mentality that makes us concerned only for appearances, which thus lessens our missionary zeal.

What are we to do if we find ourselves growing cold in our lives as children of God and disciples of Christ. First, we should remember that we are ambassadors of Christ (2 Cor 5:20) and we share a responsibility to bring others to know and acknowledge God’s love for them.  

As we begin Lent, Jesus gives us three admonitions regarding prayer, fasting and almsgiving (Mt 6:1-6; 16-18). During these six weeks of Lent then, let us pray for the grace of conversion in our own hearts and in the hearts of others, especially those far from God. Let us deny ourselves whatever can cause our heart to grow cold, not just food or candy, but judgments, criticisms and like attitudes. And let us give to those who ask or who are in need, remembering that which we measure out to others will be measured back to us.

Let us pray for one another this Lent, brothers and sisters, for the graces each one of us needs. May Easter find us renewed in the warmth of the Lord’s resurrection to new life.