It’s that time of year again.

It’s that time of year again.

By Joy Wattenbarger

Just in case you missed it, Lent began again this past week, with Ash Wednesday. As we start the first full week of Lent, the readings remind and encourage us to take a look at our lives and, in case we haven’t already, make a plan for growing closer to God during this holy season.

The Gospel gives us the story which is the basis for our celebration of Lent, Jesus’ 40 days of fasting and temptation in the desert. This story is also a great guide to examining our hearts and asking the Lord how He wants to help us grow.

At the beginning of the Gospel, we hear about how Satan tempts Jesus with food, challenging Him to make bread from the stones to satisfy His hunger. The Church calls us to embrace the practice of fasting in a special way during the season of Lent. When we think of fasting, food is probably one of the first things that comes to mind. Fasting from food can be a great practice, as it’s easy to seek comfort in eating, rather than in prayer and sharing our struggles and worries with God. The “hunger” that we experience in fasting can be a very real reminder to ask God to fulfill our heart’s desires. But maybe food isn’t your issue. Maybe there’s something else that you need to fast from, whether it be swearing, complaining, TV, Facebook, secular music, the snooze button, or something else. Take some time today to ask God to show you something in your life that you can give up, to better focus on Him.

Secondly, Satan tempts Jesus with power, offering “all the kingdoms of the world,” if only Jesus would worship him. We are tempted on a daily, well, probably more like hourly, basis to “worship” various things in our lives…to make all sorts of things more important than our relationship with God. It’s easy to say that God is first in our lives, but a lot harder to actually live that out. Whether it’s sports, a job, other relationships, or even just sleep; there are constantly things that beg to be our highest priority. The Church calls us to make an extra effort to spend time in prayer during Lent. As difficult as it may be to make time, daily prayer is a very basic and important way that we can practically choose to make God the highest priority in our lives. It doesn’t necessarily need to be going to daily Mass or spending an hour in Adoration every day (although, those are great practices, and definitely worth doing if you have the opportunity). Even just deliberately taking 15 minutes a day to tell God what’s going on in our lives, thank Him for His blessings and listen to Him in silence and His Word, Scripture will make a huge difference in helping to give God the first place in your heart.

Finally, Jesus is presented with the challenge to throw Himself off the top of the temple, to prove that God will send angels to catch Him. Jesus knows that His Father loves Him and will always provide for Him and tells Satan that he will “not put the Lord to the test.” Do we have this same trust, that God, our Father will always take care of us? If we do, the third practice of Lent, almsgiving, should be easy for us. Unfortunately, this often becomes hard because we doubt God’s provision, we doubt that we will have enough. If we throw that extra $5 in the collection basket, will we have enough money to buy the things we need? If we spend time serving others, will we have enough time to do the things we want to do? If we use our energy and gifts for His glory, will there be enough recognition for us? Giving to others, in whatever way we chose, is an act of saying to God, “I know you will care for me. I know You will make sure I have enough.” And the great thing is, when we step out in faith, trusting His provision, He always shows us that He is more than enough.

Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving: take some time today to ask God what He wants you to do in these three areas of your life so that, as you enter into this season of sacrifice, you’ll be fully ready to celebrate, with great joy, His Easter glory.