In holy Scripture, the desert is a unique place of encounter with the Lord. Israel crossed it to leave slavery behind and reach the promised land. St. John the Baptist chose desert life to prepare himself and the people for the coming of the Messiah. Similarly, Christ spent 40 days and nights in the desert preparing for His mission before beginning His public ministry.
This shows us that great things happen in the desert—in aridity, solitude, and silence—because God wants to purify us so we can enjoy a new life full of meaning and purpose. We too need to embark on our own journey through the desert, leaving sin and slavery behind, to reach our liberation in the promised land.
The Church proposes three exercises to help us progress on this journey: **almsgiving, fasting, and prayer**. These practices guide us from love of neighbor to self-love and finally to love of God.
### Almsgiving: Loving Our Neighbor in a Concrete Way
Almsgiving is a tangible way of loving our neighbor. The call to generosity invites us to practice charity and be sensitive to the pain and needs of our brothers and sisters. Hunger, thirst, sickness, cold—the suffering of any brother or sister—concerns us all. Anyone in need becomes our sibling, and almsgiving is our response to that pain.
Generosity allows us to be the Church: to bear witness to how we love one another, and to be the hands and feet of Christ.
### Fasting: Freeing Our Hearts
Fasting helps us free our hearts. We were created to worship, glorify, and bless God. When God does not occupy the primary place in our hearts, we seek something else to replace Him, creating idols and unhealthy attachments.
By experiencing physical hunger and thirst, fasting helps us recognize our spiritual hunger and thirst. Our carnal appetites cease to dominate, and our spiritual needs open the eyes of our soul.
Rather than rejecting the body, fasting seeks its purification so we can attend to our deepest needs. It becomes an act of self-love because it purifies us, frees us, and reveals how to satisfy our hearts’ deepest longings.
Our greatest longing will always be to be with God, and only in His arms do we find true peace.
### Prayer: The Purest Way to Love God
Prayer is the purest way to love God because it lifts up the heart—with all our passions, feelings, and deepest desires—and the mind to Him. It teaches us to seek His presence and enter into communion, lifting our whole being to God.
By learning to be worshipers and spending time with Jesus, we deepen our relationship with Him.
During Lent, we are invited to repent: to open our eyes and realize what we need to change. A powerful way to pray is to observe and understand our faults and weaknesses.
Many perceive confession as a ritual of punishment and guilt; however, this is a superficial approach to such a great gift. What is really offered in reconciliation is liberation and healing from our deepest wounds—those that poison our relationships with others, ourselves, and God.
### Embracing the Lenten Exercises
These three Lenten exercises—almsgiving, fasting, and prayer—are not sources of suffering. Instead, they are ways we can love our neighbor, ourselves, and God in a more honest, selfless, and free manner.
If we live them as gifts from the Holy Spirit, we will enjoy the enormous benefits they offer. Our experience in the spiritual desert will transform our hearts.
Only then will we be ready for the resurrection God has prepared for us. Then, we can experience the joy Christ knew in overcoming death and enter with Him into the promised land.
https://themiscellany.org/are-we-ready-resurrection
