LENT is a time given to us by the Church for spiritual renewal, as we recall the 40 days spent by Jesus in the desert in prayer and fasting. It is a time of inner conversion. Why conversion? Because there is no standing still in the spiritual life. It is like a fire that has to be refueled. The forces confronting us in our daily lives from within and from without are too powerful for us to withstand of ourselves. It is by God's power alone that we can persevere. This is manifested in the lives of the saints. The great St. Philip Neri - his constant prayer, "Lord hold on to me lest I betray You". Or St. Paul, "There go I but for the grace of God". Peter's failure and his consequent denial of the Master was due to his confidence in his own strength, "Lord, though they all abandon You, I won't."

Where do we begin? No longer do we have the black fasts and flagellations of past years. These appear in cycles through the centuries. But for penance the Church reverts to the prescription given to us by Jesus Himself in the Lord's Prayer; "Give us this day our daily bread." Our Lord also says; "My meat, is to do the Will of Him Who sent Me." My food, My nourishment, the expression of My Father's love for Me, His desire for My well being is His Will as it comes to me in daily life. It is clearly only as a child of God we can see the trails and sufferings of daily life in that way. What of the dear lady covered with sores, racked in pain and her utterance, "How good the Good God is ." This is an experience that sinks deeply into our hearts: "Give us this day our daily bread".

Then our need of PRAYER. St. Paul; "We ought always to pray and not to cease". Jesus; "Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation." Jesus stresses this aspect of our lives as essential for perseverance. Most of his discourse at the final moments at the Supper Table was addressed to his Heavenly Father as a prayer on behalf of all people. To Peter he said, "I have prayed for you that your faith may never fail lest Satan sift you like wheat and you must strengthen your brothers". Jesus Himself is the example to us of the necessity and importance of prayer. His life's work, which the Father gave him to do in public ministry was confined to just three years and yet He did not see it as a reason to curtail the many hours by day and by night that He would spend in prayer. If for Him, surely for us who can be caught up and carried away by daily activities to the neglect of God and even the tasks assigned to us by our vocation. Serving the good works of God rather than the God of good works.

The practical expression of the heart of a child of God is CHARITY. Any time and always is suitable for the exercise of charity. It is especially urged on us in this Holy Season to grow in this virtue, which includes the sum of all the virtues and covers a multitude of sins. Charity, the sacrifice of God's Mercy given by the goodness of God to manifest His love through us to those who have trespassed against us. In the life of Jesus, charity was expressed by His reverence towards all without discrimination. He condemned sin but never the sinner. "I come not to judge but to save." ...."The friend of publicans and sinners"... a slur thrown at Him. What was the attraction in Jesus, which the outcast of society could find in Him? It was His reverence. By His reverence towards them, He gave them a sense of their potential for goodness and for greatness. That was the power, which went out from Him. Jesus never intimidated anyone. He never made anyone feel small. Our measure is the size we make another person feel. Our power also to influence anyone to good like Jesus is our reverence for them. Reverence for those with whom we live, with those we meet in our daily lives, with all without discrimination. Reverence for Jesus Himself in the abandoned and the poorest with whom He identified Himself. "As long as you did it to one these least you did it to Me". "No other devotion", says Pope St. Leo the Great, "of the faithful is more pleasing to God than that which is directed towards the poor, where He finds merciful concern, He recognizes the reflection of his own kindness"

Finally, RECONCILIATION the Sacrament of God's Love and Mercy. No Lent is complete without the Sacrament of Reconciliation . To illustrate the importance and the effect of this Sacrament in our lives we turn to the Confession of Peter to Jesus Himself. This is a moment of crisis in the life of Peter, which will impact on the rest of his life. See how Jesus deals with this broken hearted man. How he would wish to retrieve those moments of denial of his beloved Master and to make good. The impossible happens, as he finds himself in the presence of this same Jesus. Prostrate before Him, Peter acknowledge his sorrow. Jesus reaches down, takes the hands of Peter in His, raises him up and peers into his tears worn eyes. What does Jesus say? Not what we would think, "I forgive you, your sins are washed away." No, it is one thing to wash out a wound, it is another to pour the healing unction of ointment into it. This is what Jesus does. Three times He asks Peter, "Do you love Me." Peter is upset that Jesus would ask him a third time. His triple denial had gone from his mind and his soul. No longer would he be haunted by the thought of his sin. Quite simply, "Jesus, I love you, You know that I love you". What joy to the Heart of Jesus the repentance of Peter? It could have been otherwise, as in the case of another of His specially chosen a few days before, Judas, who betrayed Him. In His Mercy do we see Jesus reach out to take the hands of Judas in His? It cannot be, Jesus has already been apprehended. His Hands are tied. It is within our power to receive the hands and embrace of Jesus into our soul, and giving Him the joy of having His raised in Absolution from the cross in the Sacrament of His Love and Mercy.