Reflect today on the small sacrifices of Lent

"The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast." Matthew 9:15

Friday in Lent… are you ready for them? Every Friday in Lent is a day of abstinence from meat. So be sure to embrace this little sacrifice today in union with our entire Church. What a blessing it is to offer sacrifice as an entire Church!

Fridays in Lent (and, in fact, throughout the year) are also days when the Church asks us to do some form of penance. Meat abstinence definitely falls into that category, unless you like meat and love fish. So these regulations are not much of a sacrifice for you. The most important thing to understand about Friday in Lent is that they should be a day of sacrifice. Jesus offered the ultimate sacrifice on a Friday and endured the most excruciating pain for the atonement of our sins. We should not hesitate to offer our sacrifice and strive to spiritually unite that sacrifice with that of Christ. Why should we do this?

At the heart of the answer to this question is a basic understanding of redemption from sin. It is important to understand the unique and profound teaching of our Catholic Church in this regard. As Catholics, we share a common belief with other Christians around the world that Jesus is the one and only Savior of the world. The only way to Heaven is through the redemption obtained by His Cross. In a sense, Jesus "paid the price" of death for our sins. He took our punishment.

That said, we need to understand our role and responsibility in receiving this priceless gift. It is not simply a gift that God offers by saying, "OK, I paid the price, now you are completely off the hook." No, we believe it says something more like this: “I have opened the door to salvation through my suffering and death. Now I invite you to enter that door with me and unite your own sufferings with mine so that my sufferings, united with yours, will lead you to salvation and freedom from sin ”. So, in a sense, we are not "off the hook"; rather, we now have a way to freedom and salvation by uniting our lives, sufferings and sins with the Cross of Christ. As Catholics, we understand that salvation had a price and that the price was not only Jesus' death but also our voluntary participation in His suffering and death.

Fridays in Lent are days when we are particularly invited to unite, voluntarily and freely, with the Sacrifice of Jesus. His sacrifice required great selflessness and self-sacrifice from him. The small acts of fasting, abstinence and other forms of self-denial that you choose dispose of your will to be more in conformity with that of Christ so that you can unite yourself more completely, receiving the grace of salvation.

Reflect today on the little sacrifices you are called to make this Lent, especially on Fridays in Lent. Make the choice to be sacrificial today and you will find that it is the best way to enter into a deeper union with the Savior of the world.

Lord, today I choose to become one with you in your suffering and death. I offer you my suffering and my sin. Please forgive my sin and allow my suffering, in particular what results from my sin, to be transformed by your own suffering so that I can share the joy of your resurrection. May the small sacrifices and acts of self-sacrifice that I offer you become a source of my deepest union with You. Jesus I believe in you.