Be Basic this Lent

Prayer. Fasting. Almsgiving. 

 

This Lent is a great opportunity to drill down on the basics: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. 

 

Prayer

 

What is prayer? Prayer is talking to God. We are created to know and love God (don't forget your Baltimore Catechism). You can't know someone without speaking with them. 

 

This Lent re-dedicate yourself to prayer. If you don't pray daily, change that. If you already do, make the intention to recommit to daily prayer. 

 

Daily rosary, prayer through scripture, morning devotional - whatever suits you, find some way to speak to God on a regular basis. We expect so much from our relationship with God, and yet we don't always treat it the same way that we would any other relationship. 

 

We would never think that we can have a healthy relationship with our spouse or family or friends if we never spoke with them. The same is true for God. Make praying to God a bedrock of your day. Pray to know God, and to speak to God. 

 

Prayer will help you grow in Prudence, one of the four cardinal virtues and the most important. Prudence is the virtue by which we see the world and our obligations more clearly. Grow in your knowledge of God, and your understanding will naturally grow as well. 

 

Fasting

 

Fasting is difficult in the land of plenty. We don't emphasize it much in our culture, but that only highlights the fact that we need it more. 

 

Jesus fasted. We are called to fast too. 

 

Fasting strengthens the will. The will is the power of the soul by which we love God. Discipline your will to strengthen your ability to say yes to God and no to sin and your selfish desires. 

If you are in a state of grace, then God will give you grace to help you grow in love of God through your acts of fasting. 

 

Discipline of the will is like exercise. We strengthen the will through smaller things that we can control (I'll give up chocolate this Lent"), so that our will can be stronger against temptations to sin that arise out of our control ("lead us not into temptation"). 

 

We strengthen the will through daily exercise. You don't try to run a marathon every day and you don't max out on benchpress the first day that you're weightlifting. But you will never run the marathon if you don't build up to it. You'll never bench your weight (or more) if you don't build up to it first. 

 

In the same way, we strengthen our will everyday through discipline to prepare for a day of great temptation when we will need a great act of strength to resist. That day will come for all of us. That's why we prepare. 

 

Fasting is the best means to practice the two cardinal virtues of temperance and fortitude. Through fasting, especially during Church-appointed seasons, we exercise our control over created things and avoid sin. And we also strengthen our ability to endure suffering for the sake of the greater good. 

 

Almsgiving

 

Christians care for the poor. It's one of the things that followers of Christ are known for. 

 

Almsgiving reinforces the discipline of fasting because it requires some level of self-denial. 

 

It's also a way of practicing the virtue of justice, the fourth cardinal virtue. The virtue of justice is to give to each what is his or her due. As Catholics, we believe that each person has an inherent dignity since they are made in the image of God, regardless of all other considerations. 

 

Because of each person's inherent dignity, they should be fed, and clothed, and warm and should be treated as a person. But this only happens through our actions. Jesus said that the "poor you will always have with you.” That means it's a problem that will never be solved and will always demand the efforts of our own hands. 

 

Two quotes from St. Basil the Great:

 

“I know many who fast, pray, sigh, and demonstrate every manner of piety, so long as it costs them nothing, yet would not part with a penny to help those in distress.” 

 

“You showed no mercy; it will not be shown to you. You opened not your house; you will be expelled from the Kingdom. You gave not your bread; you will not receive eternal life.”

 

And if the words of a great saint aren't enough to inspire charity, then consider reading the words of Our Lord from the parable of the Sheep and the Goats this Lent. (Matthew 25: 31-46). 

 So this Lent, think about how you can practice the corporal works of mercy, along with your fasting and prayer. 

 

4 Cardinal Virtues

 

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are directly connected to the 4 cardinal virtues. 

 

The cardinal virtues are the "hinge” virtues, as the word for "cardinal” in Latin is based on the word for "hinge.” Just as a door can only open and close on its hinges, all of the other virtues depend on the 4 cardinal or "hinge” virtues. 

 

That's why it's important to focus on the basics of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving for Lent, because they enable and strengthen all of the virtues of the Christian life. And God will strengthen these crucial virtues in you this season through your intentional acts done for the love of God. 

 

Remember that Our Lord says in the Gospel of Matthew that certain kinds of demons are only driven out by prayer and fasting. 

 

This Lent, whatever your plans are for your Lenten fast and spiritual practice, find some way to get back to the basic demands of repentance and the spiritual life, a path of spiritual renewal that will be powerful for all Christians: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.