The season of Lent is a time for conversion. Because of our spiritual weakness and brokenness, each of us can become dulled to our sinfulness or even comfortable with our sins. For that reason we especially need this season to awaken our consciences once again.

The conversion from our sinful practices and habits prepares us for the celebration of Holy Week, centering on the death and resurrection of Jesus. Even more, it prepares us also for the moment when we are called to judgment, to stand before Jesus to give an accounting of our lives and our love for Him.

This means of course that throughout Lent we should be making special efforts to break with sin, even more than our normal striving throughout the year. To do so, we must begin by first admitting our sinfulness, to ourselves and to God.

The very admission that we have sinned is difficult for us. Weakened by original sin, we prefer to look away from what we have done.

We often look for explanations or words that allow us to rationalize why we have not done what Jesus or His Church has told us is God’s will. Or, like Adam and Eve in the garden, we can cast the blame away from ourselves and onto others.

During Lent, the Church’s wisdom highlights the three fundamental practices or pillars of conversion.

Those are prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

There are many opportunities for deepening our prayer during Lent. Many parishes witness an increase in participation in daily Mass during Lent. We can walk with Jesus in the Stations of the Cross, frequently offered in our parishes on Friday. And we can make the effort to pray privately at home.

Almsgiving, contributing to the poor, can require some sacrifice to make our financial gift available.

Perhaps in place of money we can offer our time at the parish food bank or in some similar sacrifice.

Either way, this pillar puts us in touch with the poor and reminds us that all of us stand in need and dependence before God.

The pillar of fasting, however, is a significant challenge to many people. It is perhaps the least used tool in our spiritual arsenal. We need to change that.

The Church obliges its members between the ages of 18 and 59 to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The hope, of course, is that we will fast more than just those two days.

In our society of abundance, limiting or refraining from food has become a habit of the past. How rarely it is discussed and how few seem to carry out the practice. But the Gospels remind us of the importance that Jesus placed on fasting.

He Himself fasted 40 days before beginning His ministry. He told the Pharisees that His followers would fast when He was gone (Mk 2: 18-20).

Fasting, of course, requires discipline. Because food is so taken for granted, when we fast, then, our bodies react. It is as if our body is asking us throughout the day, “Why are you not feeding me?” The result is a constant reminder to ourselves to consider why we are fasting.

The short answer of course is to join with Christ. But during Lent, we fast to increase our spiritual discipline and to offer sorrow for our sins.

Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are not ends in themselves. They lead us to that desired conversion. But conversion is needed so that we can ask God’s forgiveness.

That leads us once more to the sacrament of reconciliation. We need the forgiveness of Jesus given us through Church and the ministry of the priest acting in the person of Christ.

I ask once more, please do not Lent pass without confessing your sins. The three pillars point to that moment. And don’t forget how near is our annual Be Reconciled Day.

On April 5, the Wednesday before Holy Week, all through the diocese, priests will hear confessions throughout the day from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Check your parish for the details.

For those who have been away from confession for a long time, please come!

The greatness of God’s love is demonstrated in His desire for the conversion and forgiveness of sinners. The sacrifice of fasting helps us to respond to that love.