Lent can be a new beginning for the soul. Fasting, we know, can be beneficial to our bodies. It’s a cleansing.
In Medjugorje, our Blessed Mother said,”Prayer and fasting can stop wars.” These are powerful words indeed. We usually associate fasting with food. To deny us food can be a cleansing for our souls, as well as for our bodies. On Ash Wednesday ashes are placed on our foreheads in the form of a cross, an outward sign, to remind us to look inside, and to turn away from sin, and return to the gospel. There are many ways of fasting. The best way of course is to stop sinning. If we have had sins, that have kept us away from the Lord, let us confess them, and begin again, a clean slate. We all have something we can work on, to come closer to God. These forty days before Easter could be a wonderful time for us to begin again spiritually, a renewal of our relationship with God.
Ridding ourselves of addictions might be a way to start. Let us not forget that without prayer, it is almost impossible to make changes. We need the Holy Spirit. We need God’s grace. We need to come to Him in the quiet of our hearts. Everything begins with small steps. Let us ask the Lord to bring us to a closer relationship with Him this lenten season.
Psalm 51 ; 9: ” Cleanse me with hyssop, and I may be purified; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
Question : What can you do, or give up this lenton season to have a closer relationship with God?
