The Making Disciples Today Blog has reflections to help you grow in your journey of missionary discipleship, reviews on recommended Catholic evangelization resources, and practical insight on how to evangelize in your daily life.
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It just makes sense
If you've read the other articles in this series, it should be obvious that almsgiving is simply a response by us to God - a response to the insights we have gained through prayer and fasting. We do not give because we are required to give or because we feel guilty if we don't, but because we are so greateful for all that God has given us.
Ultimately our journey of Lent may begin with by reflecting on "me and God," but our prayer and fasting lead us to the realization that none of us are walking this journey alone - that the needs of all are the responsibility of all in the Body of Christ.
In his Message for Lent 2015, Pope Francis asks us to reach out to those in need:
"...we can help by acts of charity, reaching out to both those near and far through the Church’s many charitable organizations. Lent is a favorable time for showing this concern for others by small yet concrete signs of our belonging to the one human family."
Mike Aquilina breaks down the challenge of almsgiving and explains why it is the most neglected of the three pillars of Lent:
Many Americans today enjoy a better standard of life than any Byzantine emperor ever knew. Central heat, central air conditioning, electric lights, consistently safe food and water, antibiotics, and even aspirin — these are luxuries beyond the dreams of our ancient ancestors.
We are living high, but are we giving high?
It's a good question to ask ourselves during Lent. It is a scandal, after all, for Christians to have closets overstuffed with clothing when there are families who are shivering because they can't pay their heating bill. It is a scandal for Christians to be epidemically overweight when they have near neighbors who go to bed hungry.
We need to give to God — whom we meet in our neighbor — until these problems go away.
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Practical Suggestions for Fasting
More than a 40 day diet
Fasting is an act of self-denial. Often it refers to food, but broadly speaking it is giving up something that is good for the purpose of deepening our spiritual life and making acts of reparation for our sin or the sin of others.
Deacon Mike Bickerstaff at Integrated Catholic explains:
[Fasting] also serves to be a penance or a sacrifice - for the purpose of strengthening us. When we don't eat, for even a little while, we get hungry. When we get hungry, we have a heightened sense of awareness. If, when we eat too much, we have a sluggish feeling, when we fast, we have a feeling of alertness. Fasting is a wonderful exercise whenever we want to sincerely ask for an important grace from God. It is not that our fasting "earns" God's attention, but by fasting, we clarify our thinking and our feeling. It is purifying and prepares us to pray more deeply.
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FREE Prayer Plan Worksheet
It all Starts with Prayer
Without prayer, our Lenten observances (getting ashes, giving up sweets, abstaining from meat on Fridays, dropping coins in the Rice Bowl) are traditions without meaning.
St. Clement of Alexandria (third century) defined prayer as "conversation with God" - a conversation that never ends. In the Scriptures, St. Paul says: "Pray at all times" (Eph 6:18); "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess 5:1); and "be constant in prayer" (Rom 12:12). He saw prayer as endless conversation.
Mike Aquilina understands that this call seems a tad unrealistic to many of us:
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While following Christ can sometimes be treated as a primarily mental or seasonal activity, the reality is that discipleship engages the whole person. But effort alone does not make a disciple. Discipline forms us only when it is ordered toward relationship with Jesus Christ.
"The practice of almsgiving is a reminder of God’s primacy and turns our attention towards others."
Benedict XVI, Lenten Message 2010
St. Paul often compares discipleship to athletic training – not to glorify effort, but to clarify intention (cf. 1 Cor 9:24–27).
