On the First Sunday of Lent, we begin our journey of forty days to the celebration of the Paschal Mystery.  The days between Ash Wednesday and the first Sunday of Lent introduce us to the major themes of the season.  Penance, prayer, fasting and almsgiving are really an integral part of our Christian life.  The Scripture readings for the Masses on these days reflect this.

The theme for Ash Wednesday is Conversion by turning away from sin and turning to Christ.  Pope Francis writes that it “is possible to create something new within ourselves and around us simply because God is infinitely merciful and cannot deny Himself.” 

The theme for Thursday is prayer and penance.  In Deuteronomy we read “I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom.”  God’s life is love.  We open ourselves to His love in prayer.  Pope Francis writes that “we are called to dive into the sea of prayer, which is the sea of God’s boundless love.”

On Friday after Ash Wednesday the theme is fasting.  The prophet Isaiah (from the reading for the day’s Mass) writes “This is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn..... and then you shall call for help, and He will say, Here I am.”  Pope Francis reflects “Fasting helps us to attune our hearts to the essential and to sharing; it is a sign of the trust we place in our God.”

Finally, on Saturday, we heard from Isaiah again: “If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted, then light shall rise for you in the darkness.” Francis writes “Gratuitousness should be one of the characteristics of the Christian, who aware of having received everything from God gratuitously …learns to give to others freely.  This is often not part of daily life where everything is bought and sold. Almsgiving helps us experience giving freely.”

Quotes from Pope Francis are from Lent: A New Beginning edited by Steve Mueller, All Saints Press.