“If you do not repent you will all perish.”
As children we were eager to tell what we were giving up for Lent… candy, cakes, a favorite TV show… Fasting directs our attention from physical needs to our spiritual fullness.
The Church asks us to fast by eating only one full meal on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and to abstaining from eating meat on these days and each Friday of Lent. Pope Francis asks us to add to our fasting by doing something that enriches another’s life. The Pope reinforces the parable Jesus told of the land owner who saw no fruit from his fig tree and want to cut it down. His gardener offered to cultivate the land around the tree and wait to see if it would bear fruit the following year.
Repent by fasting and cultivate your garden by doing good works.