Time to silence, prayer and ..Lent

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

the peace of the Lord Jesus be with us always.

We are in the time of Lent, the words fasting, prayer, contemplation, silence immediately come to mind.

The liturgical scriptures speak of the “Exodus” and the temptations of Jesus in the desert.

But how can we live this very important period, while not leaving our homes, continuing everyday life and without alienating ourselves from our world?

What does God ask us?

Time passes inexorably, between joys and pains, between defeats and victories, between laments and laughter.

How do we value what we live in the present, how do we project ourselves into the eternal love of God the Father, how do we prepare ourselves and how do we conform to the Divine teachings?

‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.’ MT 24:35

If then our only destination and priority must be citizenship in the eternal Kingdom of God, what distracts, weighs down, confuses and distracts us from our so coveted goal?

Certainly who doesn’t want us to get there. The enemy of God and our enemy, who pretends to exist in order to deceive us. As the devil tempted Christ in the wilderness, so he tempts us too.

Fasting, i.e. abstinence not only from food as a sacrifice, but above all from everything that can distance us from God, is a very strong weapon to fight evil forces.

This race of demons is not cast out except by prayer and fasting. Mt 17:21

Yes, not only fasting but above all prayer, which is our dialogue with God, praying we give ourselves, our being, time, our breath to the Father.

I would like to pray but I don’t have much time, work and many daily commitments occupy me all day, what can I do?

Then let’s live our life in prayer. It doesn’t take long to thank God for every task we manage to accomplish during our day.

It doesn’t take much effort to include God in our conversations with colleagues and friends,

We learn to be witnesses of Christ in our daily lives, Christ is truly risen and we must bear witness to him with our life, with our smile.

”Always preach the Gospel and if necessary also with words” Saint Francis

In this lent, even if it is difficult to find space and time to be silent, let us let the Gospel readings speak to us, let us contemplate even just a few verses a day.

What does Jesus want to tell us? How can that writing written so long ago transform the course of my day after changing the lives of so many others before me?

In our depths, in the silence, between one beat and another of our heart, we will discover by grace the path that leads us to God which is not always easy.

We remember in our marathon all your intentions, the victims of wars and earthquakes, for peace in the world.

Time to silence, prayer and ..Lent

121 International Prayer Marathon

1-2-3 March 2023

www.72hoursforjesus.org