Be a Good Steward of the Lenten Season

The Lenten season begins next week, our preparation for the celebration of Easter. It is a time for us Christians to embrace the “three pillars of Lent,” prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, in a focused way. For some it is a time of healing, an opportunity to repair their spiritual brokenness. For others it is simply a good time to cultivate their spiritual lives in a more disciplined manner.

While these are very worthy goals, perhaps the most obvious goal of our Lenten practices is simply to prepare ourselves to enter into the paschal mystery of Holy Week with a more humble spirit and determination to follow Jesus Christ.

Being a good steward of the gifts given us by planning ahead and following through is essential to having a fruitful Lenten experience.  Let’s consider almsgiving.

Almsgiving. This spiritual discipline heightens our sense of generosity. Just as an increase in prayer and fasting leads us to be more grateful for the gifts we’ve received, and promotes a greater awareness of others, almsgiving helps us to reach out to others in gratitude. Just as we don’t “squeeze in” time to pray during Lent, we also don’t scrutinize our checkbook when being generous with others. Make a plan and let a meaningful sense of sacrifice be your guide