The Best Gift: Offering Yourselves to Others: Preparing for Lent Novena 2022: Day 5

I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. The above quote from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans gets at the heart of fasting. Christians are not masochists who enjoy suffering for its own sake. Rather, at the heart of our fasting is to make ourselves more a gift offered for a pleasing, spiritual worship. When we fast, we recognize that we live not firstly for this world, but rather for the next life. I know that in my own life when I am too comfortable I can ignore the needs of others. I can forget how much it is I depend on God. I can turn my back on the sufferings of others. I can believe the good things that are happening to me are the result of my effort and not because of the grace of God. To read the text of this podcast, to to our website.