Returning to the Heart of God
1st Sunday of Lent
“Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.”Ps. 51
Lent is a sacred time that the Church gives us each year to return to what is essential in our faith. These are forty days that remind us of the forty years of the people of Israel in the desert and the forty days that Jesus spent in prayer and fasting before beginning His mission. It is not a sad time, but a path of grace, conversion, and hope.
In these days, God does not ask complicated things of us, but something very profound: a heart that allows itself to be transformed. Lent does not consist only in fulfilling external practices, but in changing the direction of our life, turning away from sin and sincerely turning back to the Lord. As Scripture tells us: “Return to me with all your heart.”
The Church proposes three simple and powerful paths: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Prayer helps us to listen to the voice of God and to strengthen our relationship with Him. Fasting teaches us to master our desires and to discover that man does not live by bread alone. Almsgiving opens us to concrete love for our neighbor, especially those who suffer, and frees us from selfishness.
During Lent, God wants to heal what is wounded, forgive what weighs on our conscience, and renew our hope. It is a favorable time to draw near to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to be reconciled with others, and to leave behind resentments, divisions, and attitudes that distance us from love.
It is also a time to listen more attentively to the Word of God, to review our priorities, and to ask ourselves sincerely: What place does God occupy in my life? What do I need to change? To what is the Lord calling me today? Lent invites us to walk with Jesus toward Easter, passing through the cross, but with the certainty of the Resurrection.
May these forty days be for each one of us an opportunity of grace, a time to grow in faith, charity, and hope. If we walk with a humble and trusting heart, God will make all things new.
May this Lent help us to return to God, and to discover the joy of living as true children of God and true disciples of Jesus.
Virtues, Explained!
Understanding, “I believe, in order to understand,” said St. Augustine. “And I understand, the better to believe.”
The virtue of understanding, which is a gift conferred by the Holy Spirit, shows us that there is no such thing as “blind faith.” Faith, by its very nature, seeks to better understand the object of that faith.
It is important to know that understanding is a process — the Holy Spirit is always willing to give a gift over and over again! “The same Holy Spirit constantly perfects faith by his gifts, so that Revelation may be more and more profoundly understood,” we read in Dei verbum, the dogmatic constitution on divine revelation.
Understanding is the “food” of faith. We must constantly ask the Holy Spirit for greater and more profound understanding, for though understanding proceeds from faith, it in turn nourishes that faith. “A more penetrating knowledge will in turn call forth a greater faith, increasingly set afire by love,” says the Catechism (CCC 158).
Readings of the Week
Sunday: Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7/Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 17/Romans 5:12-19 or 5:12, 17-19/Matthew 4:1-11
Monday: Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18/Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 15/Matthew 25:31-46
Tuesday: Isaiah 55:10-11/Psalm 34:4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19/Matthew 6:7-15
Wednesday: Jonah 3:1-10/Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19/Luke 11:29-32
Thursday: Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25/Psalm 138:1-2ab, 2cde-3, 7c-8/Matthew 7:7-12
Friday: Ezekiel 18:21-28/Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-7a, 7bc-8/Matthew 5:20-26
Saturday: Deuteronomy 26:16-19/Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8/Matthew 5:43-48
Next Sunday: Genesis 12:1-4a/Psalm 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22/2 Timothy 1:8b-10/Matthew 17:1-9
Celebrations of the Week
Sunday: 1st Sunday of Lent
Monday: Saint Polycarp, bishop and martyr
Friday: Saint Gregory of Narek, Abbot and Doctor of the Church
Next Sunday: 2nd Sunday of Lent
