As we prepare this Lent to remember Jesus' death and to celebrate his Resurrection, we are called with renewed purpose to prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Together, these are the Three Pillars of Lent - bringing us closer to God and preparing our hearts for the joy of Easter.
Prayer
Faith leads us beyond ourselves. It leads us directly to God.
The Catechism describes prayer as the personal relationship that we all have with the living and true God (CCC2558) and because prayer is 'personal', it can mean different things to different people.
Prayer often comes from a need. Whether we are praying for ourselves or for others - whenever we need something, it is at the core of our Christian faith to turn to God. But if prayer is the fullness of our relationship with the living God, then it cannot be one-sided.
The Catechism continues by saying that "Whether we realise it or not, prayer is the encounter of God's thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him." (CCC2560). This means that God wants you to meet him in prayer. He is calling out to you to know him better.
This Lent is your opportunity to follow the example of Mary and say "Yes!" to God when he calls to you (Luke 1:38).
Lent ends on the night of Maundy Thursday, as we remember Jesus' time spent praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Knowing that he was about to face his death, Jesus asked the disciples with him to "remain here, and watch with me...watch and pray" (Matthew 26:38,41).
That same request echoes down to us today as we prepare our hearts to watch and pray with Jesus this Holy Week and Easter.
Sign up to our Lent calendar emails for an opportunity to pause every day of Lent and spend some time in prayer and reflection
Fasting
Lent comes providentially to awaken us, to rouse us from our lethargy
In 2019, CAFOD asked Dominican Friar Fr Nicholas Crowe what fasting meant to him. Fr Nicholas spoke about how fasting gives us the opportunity to re-evaluate our daily life.
He asked us to consider our daily routine. Is it structured by prayer or by eating, working and chores? By breaking our routine, fasting forces us to confront the everyday decisions that make up our lives and to ask ourselves where we could be finding more space for God.
This echoes Pope Francis' first Ash Wednesday homily as pope in 2014. He spoke of Lent as a reminder not be carried by the current, but to make an active choice each day to be a better follower of Jesus'.
Fasting isn't just about doing less of what moves us away from God, it is most fruitful when we do more of what brings us closer to God as well.
Pope Francis continued in that homily to say that "Fasting makes sense...if it also leads to some benefit for others, if it helps us to cultivate the style of the Good Samaritan, who bends down to his brother in need and takes care of him."
This was the inspiration behind CAFOD's first Family Fast Day in 1960 when a group of Catholic women fasted with their families and donated the money they saved to help build a mother-and-baby clinic in Dominica.
Every Lent, we ask Catholics to follow in their footsteps and to join us in fasting and giving what we save to our sisters and brothers in need. Fast Day this Lent is on Friday 27th February.
Find out more about Lent Family Fast Day
Almsgiving
Love your neighbour as yourself
In this famous passage from Mark's Gospel, Jesus is responding to a question about which is the most important commandment. "Love the Lord your God", he says, " And love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:30-31).
Faith and charity - loving God and loving our neighbour - are two sides of the same coin. Loving God moves us towards our neighbour and loving our neighbour brings us closer to God.
When we give to charity, it is a spiritual act and an act of love to our neighbours and to the part of God that lives within them.
Charity is a cornerstone of Lent. In Lent we are called to follow in the example of God's own generosity and to make sure that charity and faith are going hand-in-hand in our own lives.
But what happens when Lent is over? Setting up a monthly gift is just one way that this Lent can become an opportunity for permanent renewal in your life as you make a long-term commitment to loving your neighbours.
Your sisters and brothers need good neighbours like you - start your monthly gift this Lent
Living Lent with CAFOD
Family Fast Day is your opportunity to live out the three pillars of Lent with CAFOD as we pray, fast and give what we save to those in need.
CAFOD is your agency, providing practical help - on behalf of the Catholic community - to your sisters and brothers experiencing poverty and this Fast Day, your prayers, fasting and giving will help your neighbours grow enough food to eat.
Around the world – despite farmers’ best efforts – crops are failing and families are going hungry - but there is hope and there is a solution.
In South Sudan and Bangladesh, devastating floods are destroying farmland but - thanks to the extraordinary generosity of the Catholic community at Fast Days - our local partners have been helping families to develop ingenious solutions like floating gardens that can grow food above floodwaters.
Shorai is a farmer and a father in Zimbabwe, where rain is scarce. With the help of our local experts, he has turned dry ground into fertile land by using drought-resistant crops and helping build a solar-powered water pump. He told us that: “A good neighbour is someone who can help me in periods of need.”
In God's eyes, we are one global family, called to be neighbours. Your support this Family Fast Day will mean more of our neighbours can put food on the table.