Jesus did not want to give you some of His love, He wanted to give you ALL of His love.
How will your Lent go?
Photo By: Flickr/Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P.
In general, you get out what you put in. You Lent will go as well as you to give it. Now, this does not mean to try to do everything. One does not enter a weight room and start with the heaviest weights. And this does not mean to do just a little. You do not enter a weight room and pickup weights well-below what you can handle. So, put into Lent what you can, but make sure that it challenges you.
Today is a great day to determine what you can and will put into Lent. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the pillars of Lent, so doing some form or combination of those would be a great place to start, but remember the reason first.
So, what is the reason for giving towards your Lent? There are multiple reasons. First, we do so in solidarity. As one universal (Catholic) Church, we do Lent as together. On Ash Wednesday and all Fridays of Lent, we join in the same gift. We give the gift of fasting and/or abstinence to Our God. The children offer back to their heavenly Father one gift from all.
Second, we individually give to our heavenly Father. This is much more intimate, but no less worthwhile. We tell God, we love you more than this that I give up, which I do for you. Sure, it may not always be much, but doing Lent intentionally for love of God will get you more out of Lent.
If you put love into Lent, no matter how small or broken, you will be amazed with the love that you receive out of Lent. For God cannot give any love other than the most pure and powerful love, since He is Love! ("God is love" - 1 John 4:8)
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About the Author
I am an adopted son of God through baptism, though still a great sinner. God has blessed me with a wonderful wife and 11 lovely children, 3 of which have gone to Heaven before their birth.
I love the Rosary and started sharing little Catholic reflections with others. My little reflections have helped deepen my faith and I hope they can help others as well. Though not always fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, I enjoy when He takes over and seeing what direction He takes the reflection.
Please say a prayer for me and I will continue to pray for all who read my little reflections, especially for them to be read as the Holy Spirit intends. St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for the success of my little reflections and for all of Catholic365 and its readers.
