Journey with Christ

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This is the first Sunday of Lent and the readings are as follows:

[Genesis 9: 8-15] [1 Peter 3: 18-22] [Mark 1: 12-15]

In the Gospel this week, we heard the Lord telling us :” ‘Repent and believe in the Gospel.’

Why repent?

Before the New Year, we are in the habit of doing spring cleaning when we clean and clear up our home to prepare and celebrate the New Year – symbolic of starting afresh for the New Year. We not only clean up our house from the dirt and dust but also get rid of things that we do not need.

Lent is a time like spring cleaning when we are called to respond (once again) to God. It is a time when we reflect on our life, repent by prayer, fasting and abstinence.

Lent is like the time when Jesus was lead into the desert to fast for 40 days....and we too, should fast, pray and reflect on our life in preparation to celebrate Easter when we remember Jesus who die on the Cross to save us.

Most of us though converted to Christianity is not always responding to God. We make perhaps some changes in order to avoid really big sins, but we are often not cooperative in giving over every aspect of our lives to God. This pattern happens throughout all of Scripture where we see people sin against God and turning away from Him time and again.

Sure, we tell God that we love Him and want to do His will but we go on leading more or less the same life that we did before.

During this season of Lent, may we come to respond to God consistently. Make God in Jesus Christ be the whole meaning of our life. May our prayer, fasting and abstinence help us change deeply so that we can be truly “Christ Like”

May we be truly converted in our heart and live to listen to Him and doing His will by giving over every aspect of our lives to God.

Ash Wednesday and Lent

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

"Yet even now," says the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments."

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of 40 days of Lent leading up to Easter. Lent is a time of repentence and coming back to God. During this time, we are called to recognize how far we have strayed from God and return to him.

As on Good Friday, Catholics ages between 16 to 60 (except those physically and/or medically unfit to do so) are required to fast on Ash Wednesday. This means having only one full meal that day ... several smaller meals may be substituted - to sustain ones physical strength, as long as they together do not exceed one full meal.

This is to honor Christ and to focus on His passion and death and our relationship with Him.

During Lent, many Catholics choose to give something up as a sign of their repentence and a way to remember the importance of this time. This is based on very old tradition but giving something up is not required by canon law. What canon law requires is that we abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent.

Find out more about Ash Wednesday here and Lent here.