But he knows that the patience of the owner is not indefinite! Lent is a time for us to wake up to this truth as well: Tomorrow is not guaranteed. The time to repent and grow is now.

During Lent, we cultivate the spiritual ground of our minds and hearts. In the cultivation process, the ground needs to be broken up in order to be made receptive to the seed sown, and so it is with lives. We must be willing to break up our routine to accommodate God in an explicitly and more generous way.

If we are to become more receptive to the Gospel and the Christian way of life, we must read the scriptures daily, do works of charity, confess our sins; set time aside for prayer and silent contemplation; limit our mind's exposure to daily images and values that celebrate violence, greed, selfishness, sexual immorality, and cruelty to others.

What we focus our minds on daily profoundly affects our attitude and behavior. So, maybe giving up the racy novels for Lent (and beyond) and, instead, reading the lives of African Saints would bear more spiritual fruit than giving up dessert! Plan to give God an Easter gift this year ~ a basket of the fruit you cultivated with the time he gave you!

Jesus wants us (as he did the apostles) to experience God to be greater than our fears, deeper than our worries, and brighter than our darkness. Jesus led his closest companions to a quiet and out-of-the-way-place to pray. He invites us to a place called "Lent" where we would go out of our way to listen to his saving voice through the silence of prayer and the richness of his Holy Scriptures