Detail of the painting Baptism and Temptations of Christ by Paolo Veronese, ca 1582, kept in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan
This year, we prepare to cross the threshold of Lent with the penitential practice of the imposition of Ashes. In these forty days, the Church calls its children to live a period of penance in view of an increasingly vigorous conversion. This important time is precisely aimed at deep meditation on one’s own path of holiness, exemplified by the practice of engaging in some renunciation. Each Lent, in fact, brings with it a purpose of renewal of life. It’s like getting back into motion on the spiritual journey, identifying battles and trials to be faced with the weapons of fasting, penance, and above all prayer. It is a time to come back to oneself and give the proper weight to what characterizes our lives. In this examination of Lenten conscience one might ask of himself: “What does the Lord ask me here and now?” Or “What does he ask me in my day, in my vocation and with those around me?”
yet again, it is the same Lord who awaits us on the threshold of lent and who asks us the same question he asked the prophet Elijah on mount oreb: “what are you doing here elijah?”
(1Re 19, 9)
What do you want from me?
In what concrete circumstance of our lives do we need the Lord? In which spiritual or relational problem do we need Him? With a sincere and docile heart we put into the Lords hands all of our difficulties asking Him to help us accept and overcome them. At the same time, we need to be careful not to fall into the temptation of “building” our holiness with our own hands by thinking of that penance that seems more heroic or of that particularly heavy sacrifice. Holiness is the call that comes from the Lord every day of our life, He is “the author and perfector of faith” (Eb 12, 2), the One who calls and gives grace. He “shapes” us and transforms us according to His Will through the small or great things that we are called to accept and face every day of our lives, offering them to Him with love and for His love.
The true path of holiness lies in the ardent desire to give itself completely to Him, as He wills. Lent is also a time to reflect on all the gifts and graces that the Lord has given us, and to thank him with a grateful heart, because in Him is the source and the end of every good we can do:
“everything comes from you; we, after receiving it from your hand, have given it back to you”
(1Cr 29,14)
Like David, therefore, we ask God for the grace to offer him a genuine sacrifice, made of humility and trust:
“a contrite spirit is a sacrifice to god; a heart that is sacrificed and humbled, you, o god, do not despise”
(Ps 51, 19)
