Third Week of Lent | The Purpose of Lent: Get Closer to Jesus

St. Josemaria Institute Podcast

In this podcast, as we continue our Lenten devotions, Fr. Peter Armenio reminds us of the importance of getting to know Christ, our Divine Friend, and using the Gospels as a medium to hear him and to speak to him.

Fr. Peter explains how “the purpose of Lent is to get closer to Jesus” and one of the best ways of doing this is by following the Church’s three Lenten pillars—prayer fasting, and almsgiving—as they all lead us to keep us focused on and in communication with Christ.

In the same way that people become friends by means of conversation and spending time with each other, Jesus wants us to spend time with him. “Our Lord wants us to insert ourselves into the scenes of the Gospel. He wants us to listen to what he says...”

Lent, therefore, can be a time for us to make progress in our prayer and conversation with Our Lord. We must show up for our time of prayer and commit to it; we cannot make excuses. It is Jesus who waits for us.

In this podcast, you will also hear how:

• Lent can serve as a “springboard” for asking Our Lord to teach us how to pray and spending time each day in dialogue with him.
• “Jesus is your friend. The Friend. With a human heart, like yours. With loving eyes that wept for Lazarus. As much as He loved Lazarus, He loves you” (St. Josemaria Escriva; The Way, no. 422).
• Every prayer of ours should be true contemplation; it should mean something to us and come from the heart.
• Jesus is the Word of God spoken by God the Father to us from all eternity, and there is a personal message for each one of us in the Gospel.
• The Gospel is a compilation of conversations Jesus had with his friends. And there is an element of each Gospel character in everyone.

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