“Be careful not to practice your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them.”
Today’s Word of God invites us to reflect on the essence of Lent: the conversion of the heart. Therefore, in the light of God’s Word, Ash Wednesday opens with the well-known text from Matthew about almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. It invites us to embrace a spirit of prayer, fasting, and charity, not as external rituals, but as attitudes that transform us from within, confronting our own interior life with all its complexity, and seeking God where He wishes to be sought—drawing near with confidence, like a friend who knows us better than we know ourselves.
These Lenten practices—almsgiving, prayer, and fasting—are means to relearn the path back to the heart, with greater truth and coherence before God and our brothers and sisters.
In this time of ashes, the liturgy gives us the opportunity to experience a way of living in which true freedom can be expressed. If we believe that another world is possible, it must begin with ourselves. To fast, to give alms, and to pray… three simple proposals to become better and more human.
Prayer: a time to become aware that my life passes before the eyes of the Lord and to know what He sees in it; only before the compassionate gaze of the Lord can I activate the best resources present within me. Prayer is a necessary and special encounter to know the Lord, to connect with Him, and to feel His presence in daily life. It is a time to give thanks for the good He accomplishes in our personal lives and in the lives of others.
Fasting: setting aside what causes harm in order to affirm what deserves space in our lives. The Lord calls us to fast from everything that harms us: misunderstanding, intolerance, selfishness, pride, lies, and excuses that prevent us from facing reality. To learn to fast not as an empty sacrifice, but out of love, embracing the renunciation that opens us to a new life.
Almsgiving: we are called to share whatever little or much we have, making our lives a constant movement toward others, especially the poor and the excluded. May this Lenten season be a return to what is essential: a generous, humble, sincere heart, open to grace.
Sr. Marlene Soares Mota
Provincia Rosa Santaeugenia
