Good for Our Health

We know that the season of Lent is a time of penance (prayer, fasting, and almsgiving). Truly, these exercises in faith provide much good for our health. The physical, psychological, and spiritual benefits of penance are a godsend, particularly as we grapple with life’s temptations, stresses, and uncertainties.

Lent reminds us that we are made of a body and spirit; both of which need great care. Granted, we may not always like what is good for our health. Sacrificing a favorite food or drink certainly cuts into one’s comfort zone. However, Jesus Christ is our physician whose healing powers can change our lives and our world for the better.

Therefore, let’s follow the advice of Christ’s mother at the Wedding Feast of Cana. “His mother said to the servers, ‘Do whatever he tells you’” [John 2:5]. Christ tells us to love God and to love one another as God loves us. Prayers, fasting, and almsgiving express that love and that’s certainly good for our health—in this world and for all eternity!

Prayer’s Lifeline

Throughout His mission, Christ taught us that prayer is a vital necessity. He brought to life the prayers for healing and salvation. When we neglect our prayers, we neglect ourselves and each other because we neglect our lifeline to heaven. We neglect the help our Lord wants to give us to live our lives faithfully.

As long as we are earnest in our prayers, God’s graces and blessings enter our bodies and minds, hearts and souls. In fact, studies show an active prayer life is beneficial to our overall health. Raising our hearts and minds to God, prayer provides a calming effect, which is particularly helpful when we are stressed.

Why? Prayer is perseverance in love—love of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and for one another. If we open ourselves to the loving graces from heaven, prayer’s spiritual effects enhance our physical, mental, and emotional well-being. In prayer, we are never alone and therefore, never without heaven’s hope. That’s certainly good for our health!

Sense of Selflessness

In addition to prayer, a cleansing of the heart and soul maintains a healthy dwelling place for the Spirit of our Lord. Such cleansing involves sacrifice. Offering up our sacrifices in prayer to God as acts of love, as Christ did, purifies us internally.

Remember, self-denial, such as fasting, is more than a temporary physical and mental exercise. It develops a discipline to detach ourselves from material wants. At the same time, our resilience strengthens against temptations that lead to sin and vice. That’s certainly good for our health!

Then God’s grace opens the way to increase our works of charity at home and beyond. Charity is “benevolence; it fosters reciprocity and remains disinterested and generous; it is friendship and communion” [CCC 1829]. In other words, good works replace sinful acts, selflessness overcomes selfishness, and hope is given to the hopeless.

Days Ahead

What we do during Lent helps to spread the healing power of God. Through God’s grace, we receive strength and stability. Such grace also gives us peace and serenity of conscience, and spiritual consolation. All of this we can share particularly in these unsettled times. That’s certainly good for our health now and always. Amen!