The three Catholic disciplines of Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These were given biblically in the gospel reading that we hear each year on Ash Wednesday (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18). A person can use these three practices for any number of spiritual ends relating to his or her own personal ongoing conversion, but why not use them as a means of deepening one's sense of Catholic social teaching? Pray for changes to unjust structures that keep people in poverty or otherwise oppressed; fast so as to train the body to not over-consume the world's resources; and give alms so that those with less may be raised up.
For a similar take on this, see the recent editorial published by Our Sunday Visitor at http://bit.ly/d2vQR2.
Copyright © 2010, Deacon Carl D. Smith. All rights reserved. Reprint permission granted to parishes for use in Sunday bulletins.
Copyright © 2010, Deacon Carl D. Smith. All rights reserved. Reprint permission granted to parishes for use in Sunday bulletins.
