Lenten Virtues: Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving Shall Lead Us to God’s Delight and Blessing – Friday and Saturday before the First Sunday of Lent

 A main theme of the Scripture Readings across the first Friday and first Saturday of Lent may seem to be fasting, which is one of the three major Lenten virtues, along with prayer and almsgiving, as reflected in the Gospel Reading for Ash Wednesday (Matthew 6:1-6,16-18). In fact, it is rather about how we take on our Lenten virtues, focusing on the example of fasting, in practice for 40 days and what may come out of the practice. Thus, it confronts how our innermost part takes on practicing these Lenten virtues.  For this reason, we read the first 14 verses of Isaiah 58 over these two days (vv. 1-9 on Friday; vv.9-14 on Saturday) before the First Sunday of Lent.

On these two days of Lent, following Thursday after Ash Wednesday and preceding First Sunday of Lent, we reflect on the right way of our Lenten practice as God wants us to in juxtaposing Isaiah 58:1-9 to Matthew 9:14-15 on  Friday and Isaiah 58:9-14 to Matthew 5:27-32. And we realize that our practice of Lenten virtues, especially fasting, out of our observance of Deuteronomy 6:5 (loving God with our whole selves, nothing withheld to ourselves) in the context of charity (Leviticus 19:18 cf. 1 Corinthians 13:3),therefore,  not out of our own self-righteousness. Namely, our practice of the Lenten virtues is in the spirit of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 22:37-40, in which Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 are put together, to reiterate Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18, especially vv. 16-18 on our Lenten practice of fasting.

Fasting, along with prayer and almsgiving…our commitment to the Lenten virtues is to be carried out as out act of love: love of God and love of our neighbors, especially in greater need. This love is charity – agape. Therefore, our Lenten commitment has nothing to do with making ourselves appear righteous to be saved by God. If we truly want to be saved by God, then, we must let selfless love of God and of our neighbors deeply affect our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. This way, we can do fasting without getting lost in asceticism (Matthew 9:14-15) and obsession with righteousness (Luke 5:27-32). Then, we can appreciate every blessing we receive, in including our daily bread, and share it with our neighbors, while giving thanks to God, the provider, making our Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving truly meaningful and transformative in love. And this leads us to be in the delight of the Lord (Isaiah 58:14).

If we engage in practicing the Lenten virtues, even we think repenting, out of our concerns to be saved, we may inadvertently practice the virtues in a wrong way, as our obsession with personal salvation means self-centeredness, blinding us from true charity effects of the practice. And, as reminded in the Ash Wednesday Gospel Reading (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18), we need to keep our ego out of the picture in practicing virtue. Also, as reminded in the Gospel Reading for the Thursday after Ash Wednesday (Luke 9:22-25), we really need to overcome our ego, which can become a stumbling block to carrying our daily cross in following the Lord. So, in Isaiah 58:1-14, God warns our ego-tainted wrong practice of virtue and reminds us of the authentic way of the practice, leading to His delight and blessing. So, it is really important to we regularly reflect and examine the way we practice the Lenten virtues of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in light of Isaiah 58:1-14 in juxtaposition to Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18, in connection to Luke 9:22-25.