Can We Do More this Lenten Season?

Through our Lenten journey, we are called to empty ourselves by our acts of penance so that we can be filled with God’s graces. As we enter the second year of the coronavirus pandemic, God knows we’ve prayed and made sacrifices during these many months. What more can we do that we have not been doing already?

I must admit I am struggling with my faith—in part because the virus is still here. Haven’t we suffered enough? Let’s be clear: God does not want us to suffer. He wants us to love—to love him and one another in our joys, works, and in our sorrows because GOD LOVES US.

Therefore, giving our love to God and offering up all that we do in our daily living, including our suffering, for the sake of salvation should be a no-brainer, right? Or, are we holding back? If we close ourselves off, we prevent the greatness of God’s loving graces from entering our lives. In God’s love, we are renewed!

Time to renew

Even with the prayers, fasting, and almsgiving, I tend to hold back from God; do you? I’m not saying I do not love God, but I don’t think I love him enough. Sound familiar? Lent is a good reminder that we cannot neglect our spirit just as we cannot neglect our body. For the sake of our spiritual as well as bodily health, our Lenten promises can help us focus on our renewal.

By renewing ourselves in the image and likeness of God, we are renewed in love because God’s very being is love. That love was made manifest in Jesus Christ and is poured into us by way of the Holy Spirit. “We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” [1 Jn. 3:2]

Our Lenten observance helps us to become visible signs of God’s love. By immersing ourselves in our acts of penance, we live with our Lord in faith and love. We are strengthened in our acts of charity. All of which works to sustain the hope of healing for ourselves and for our world.

More to do

Oftentimes, I think about the three shepherd children of Fatima, Portugal and what they endured for the love of God. Offering up their sacrifices and hardships, with Mary, the Blessed Mother to guide them, love prevailed. On October 13, 1917 more than 70,000 people witnessed the spiraling sun—a miracle promised by Mary.

The miracle could have been greater if more people had faith. Yes, prayers were answered, others were not. Many also resisted the Marian apparitions and their message of repentance. Lack of faith can diminish God’s miraculous power, according to Father Andrew Apostoli, author of Fatima for Today.  

Perhaps we can learn from the children of Fatima, particularly St. Francisco and St. Jacinta. In the several months that followed the apparitions, the two young seers offered up their sufferings to save souls before they both succumbed to the world’s flu pandemic. In their brief lifetime, their love for God and humanity only grew stronger and never wavered. By our Lenten journey, with the grace of God, may our love do the same -- as we amend our lives and ask forgiveness for our sins. Amen!