GOSPEL MATTERS: ‘Return to God with all your heart’
Dr Christine Wood, Director of the Office of Evangelisation & Catechesis
Lent is the great season in the Church’s liturgical year dedicated to renewing our spiritual life. Essentially, it’s a time to return to the Lord, to refocus our spiritual efforts on seeking the only One who fulfils our heart’s desires. So often we drift away from Christ, the centre of our lives. Lent is a time to return to the centre.
In recalling the words of the prophet Joel on Ash Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI said: “To ‘return to God with all your heart’ on this Lenten journey means embracing the cross, following Christ along the path which leads to Calvary, unto complete self-giving. It is a journey which teaches us each day to abandon our selfishness and self-absorption in order to make room for God, who opens and transforms our hearts.”
This sounds difficult to accomplish, and in fact it’s impossible without God’s help. If we are honest, we all struggle daily to love one another, to be selfless even in the smallest things. We complain when things get uncomfortable. We cut corners in our work. We assert our wills needlessly at other people’s expense.
Pope Benedict XVI explained that Jesus gives us the key: “In the page of Matthew’s Gospel, which is part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus mentions three basic practices found in the law of Moses: almsgiving, prayer and fasting; these are also traditional signposts along the journey of Lent, pointing out how to respond to the call to ‘return to God with all your heart’.”
Almsgiving breaks our desire to hold onto material possessions. It enables us to help others who are needier than ourselves. It makes us love the poor and vulnerable.
Prayer humbles us because it makes us recognise that we are totally dependent upon God. God is God and we are not! Prayer fosters trust in God, our heavenly Father, who provides all we need. It opens us to hear God speak.
Fasting helps us to control our anger and our desire for pleasures. Cutting back on food and drink, particularly alcohol, for a supernatural motive, will enhance our freedom. We could even try fasting from our smartphones and other devices. The freer we are the more human we become, and the more open we are to doing God’s will.
Ultimately, the goal of Lent is union with God, in and through Jesus Christ. This is the goal of human life itself. Let’s renew our focus on the essentials this Lent.