“Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.”
Lent is almost upon us, and our thoughts turn to the practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. March is the month dedicated to Saint Joseph, and, providentially, the beginning of Lent falls in the beginning of March this year. How beautiful it would be to spend extra time in prayer with Saint Joseph during this season of Lent and his month. Fr. Donald Calloway has a lovely book, Consecration to Saint Joseph. Perhaps this Lent would be a good time to make such a consecration. Consecrating oneself to Saint Joseph means that we give him all that we are and have, and he will take that gift of self and present it to Our Lady and Her Son.
“What am I giving up for Lent?” That is the question we all ask ourselves as Ash Wednesday rapidly approaches. The Lenten Cookbook, with an introduction by Scott Hahn, has a number of introductory chapters on the topic of fasting. He details the history and the spirituality of fasting, and gives a number of excellent recipes that follow the fasting guidelines. After all, how many of us say we wish we could do more, but just “don’t know what to cook”? This book solves that problem and then some with its food for the body and soul!
As for almsgiving, what better model do we have than John 3:16—“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” We perform acts of charity for others in imitation of Him Who performed the ultimate act of Charity for us when He died on the Cross to save us from eternal death. From meditation on and participation in Our Lord’s Passion flows the grace to perform selfless acts of kindness to others, who are made in His Image and Likeness.
Ash Wednesday is fast approaching. May Saint Joseph, the Terror of Demons and Patron of the Universal Church, intercede for us, that this Lenten season might bear fruit for our souls as we prepare to pray, fast, and give alms under the cloak of his protection.
