Today we begin our Lenten journey. It is a time of preparation for the celebration of Holy Week and Easter. To prepare ourselves, we can increase our times of prayers and do acts of charity during Lent.

In today's gospel, we hear how Jesus teaches us how to pray and to do charity work so that our inner life can be nourished. Jesus looks at prayers and almsgiving as an elemental and intimate space where God the Father meets us. Yet Jesus sees that there are people who turn spirituality into publicity.

There are dangers in making our private or inner lives public. As far as Jesus is concerned, we will lose the reward of the 'the kingdom and the righteousness of God' (v.33). We lose the gift of the Holy Spirit!

Despite our busyness, we must increase the time, intensity and depth of our prayers during Lent. The reward is our companionship with the Lord especially on our Paschal journey, just as the two men from Emmaus experienced. The Lord's sharing with us is the glory and joy of Easter.

And so, during this season as we strive to be closer to Christ, we also pray for a renewal of Christian joy in our lives: "Give me back the joy of your salvation and a willing spirit sustain within me." (Ps 51,14).