Lenten Season Lesson: Charity and Prayer are Not Optional, but Obligatory

Lenten Season Lesson: Charity and Prayer are Not Optional, but Obligatory We all are sinners. This is obvious, but it is possible on any given day for us to forget that. We might focus on the sinfulness of the world. We focus on the failures of others. We may also focus on the ways we have been wronged. We are sinners, but at times that thought can become distant. This theme runs through the Lenten Season. The Lord tells the people in scripture that the issue is not that you don’t go to Church (temple). It’s not that you aren’t sacrificing. But you are allowing things to blind reality. The Lord says you come to give sacrifices to the temple but walk by your brother in need and do nothing. Any one of these things aren’t bad. What is bad is that we do not allow the very best of things to penetrate us. The first four days of Lent is a special period. If you want to follow Jesus, deny yourself, and pick up your cross. Hear the insights within the Homily. Charity and prayer are not optional, but obligatory. You cannot have a relationship with the Lord, without caring for His people. Understand what this means during this Lenten Season and its implications for us! ------------------------------------------------------ Image: Christ in Gethsemane: German Painter: Heinrich Hoffman: 1886