Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI reminds us as we begin this holy season of Lent: “The central mystery of our vocation is the same as that to which Lent is leading, namely, the death and Resurrection of the Lord.”

The pope reminds us that Lent forms, as it were, a great spiritual exercise to prepare for the celebration of the great Paschal Mystery and to deepen our awareness of it. A retreat is our way of going into training to become a better Christian. In the same way that walking and running are a means of exercising the body, a retreat is a spiritual exercise that prepares the soul to make an ever better response to what we have received.

Most of the time, at least I hope, I try to write you about matters I know a little something about, like prayer, the sacraments, or pastoral issues in the archdiocese, for instance.

Today I’m writing you on a topic I’m not too good at, or that knowledgeable about at all … fasting!

Not that I am unaware of the necessity of fasting, penance, and mortification in my spiritual life. One can hardly read a page in the Gospel, or study the life of any saint, without knowing that self-denial when it comes to food is an essential of genuine Christian discipleship.