The one thing which is sure, predictable, certain about our future is that we shall die. Lent can be looked upon as the practice of death. The traditional practices of Lent, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, are a way of orienting ourselves toward the God who loves us through life into death. We pray in order to lose the illusion that we are in control of our life. In prayer we accept that God is in control. We fast to lose the illusion that we must make ourselves happy, satisfy ourselves. By fasting we let God satisfy us. We give alms to lose the illusion that something is mine. All that we have — even life itself — is a gift from God and not a possession to hoard.
