First Sunday of Lent • Year C
Why do we give things up in Lent? So that a small denial, a freely sacrificed dessert or glass of beer, may remind us of the source of everything we have been given during the rest of the year, everything we have too easily taken for granted. Why do we strive to pray more, to come to confession, to set aside some money for the poor? Because all of these give God praise. All of these free acts of penance and charity are the sacrifice which pleases God, because they acknowledge Him as Lord by fulfilling His commandment of love.
