“Man does not live on bread alone”
My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
For forty days of Lent we shall have the opportunity to grow in our relationship with God, review our lives, renew our faith and baptismal commitment in living a genuine Christian life, and deepen our commitment to Christ and the Church. Lent is a Season of prayer, fasting and works of mercy. These are all connected and should always go together. Lent is also a season of penance and a time of grace.
St. Peter Chrysologus, one of the Fathers of the Church of the 5th century, in reflecting on prayer, fasting and mercy, remarked: “Fasting is the soul of prayer; and mercy the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they are inseparable. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. Therefore, if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ears to others you open God’s ear to yourself”. Lent begins with a call to prayer, fasting and mercy (almsgiving). ‘If you do not release the springs of mercy, your fasting will bear no fruit. When you fast, if your mercy is thin your harvest will be thin…(St. Peter Chrysologus).
This Lent, 2010, I invite you to be a people of prayer. Make the extra effort to go to daily Mass, to participate in your Parish Lenten Mission, to read privately one of the daily Scripture readings and spend at least ten minutes in quiet meditation, pray the Rosary for peace, in reparation for sin and for the conversion of hearts from violence to non-violence and a greater respect for life.
With our Vision 2020: Disciples on Mission, we must be concerned about our nation which needs healing and the grace to turn away from crime and violence. Christians are killing Christians, youth are killing youth. Violence is hurting our society and destroying life. Now is the time to turn away from evil and seek reconciliation. Lent is a fruitful time to pray for peace and an end to crime and violence in our society. Pray Psalm 42(43) daily during Lent. Pray also for good family life and vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. Fast this Lent and feast the poor!
This year you can make of your Lenten prayer and fasting a sacrificial offering to help and support the poor and suffering in Haiti. Fast and feast the poor. Let us make outreach to our sisters and brothers in Haiti one of our primary means of sacrificial giving this Lent. Works of Mercy give expression to our prayer and fasting. There are specially designed stickers available to remind you to give to Haiti this Lent. You can place them on jars, envelopes or wherever you may wish to place them as a reminder to you to give as a family, school, at work or in your prayer meeting. Get enough stickers to share with your friends and to help others to remember that we are in Lent, a time for prayer, fasting and mercy.
‘This is the fast that pleases me, says the Lord: share your bread with the hungry, and shelter the homeless poor. Then you will cry and the Lord will hear; you will call, and he will say, I am here’ (Is58:6-7, 9). May your spiritual efforts and charitable outreach through prayer, fasting and mercy bear fruit in a genuine Christian life, a blessed Lenten Season and an enriched sharing in the mystery of Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. ‘Give to yourself by giving to the poor man’. “Prayer which is joined to fasting and almsgiving (mercy) is good, for almsgiving will purge away every sin’ (Tob 12:8). May God bless you throughout the Lenten Season.
Faithfully in Christ,
+Robert Rivas O.P.
Archbishop of Castries, St. Lucia
