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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nFair-weather fans. Have you ever heard this sports term before? Fair-weather fans are those people who stay with a sports team when it is popular to follow the team, who follow a sports team when the team is winning its games and who go to the games when the weather for the games is sunny and warm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When it comes to God, are we fair-weather fans? Will we stay with Him when all the other followers abandon him? Will we still be following Him when the enemy is beating up on Him and killing Him and when darkness has come over all the land as the earth quakes? In today\u2019s Gospel reading, Jesus is challenging us to become more than just fair-weather fans of God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus wants us to be among the few followers who are still with him at the foot of the cross when all the other fair-weather fans have fled and are nowhere to be seen. Jesus knows it will take strong faith to be among his faithful followers. That is why he gives us three spiritual exercises in today\u2019s Gospel reading to strengthen our faith and our relationship with God so we will be strong enough to follow Him while weathering the storm that lies ahead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These three spiritual exercises are fasting, prayer and almsgiving. Fasting, prayer and almsgiving are tough spiritual exercises. During the 40 days of fasting in Lent, these spiritual exercises don\u2019t get easier, we get stronger. When we fast, we get stronger in our faith so that when He offers us His body to eat and blood to drink at the Last Supper, our stomachs will contain the only food and drink we really need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we pray a little more every day, even when no one else is watching and we are tired, we strengthen our spiritual and physical endurance so we can stay awake with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane on Holy Thursday when His hour has come and Jesus asks us to stay awake to be with him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we give to others in need the money and stuff we\u2019ve been clinging to, then our hands are freed to use all our strength to be like Simon of Cyrene in helping Jesus carry the cross on Good Friday. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us use these three spiritual exercises of fasting, prayer and almsgiving to strengthen our faith and our relationship with God so we can become stronger followers of God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some sports fans put the hat of their favorite team on their heads to let all the world know the team they follow. In a few moments, we will have ashes put on our foreheads in the sign of the cross to let the whole world know we are more than just fair-weather followers of God. This Lent, let us be strengthened by our fasting, prayer and almsgiving so we may follow Jesus through Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Then, He will reward us with sharing in the joy of rising with Him on Easter Sunday.
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Fair-weather fans. Have you ever heard this sports term before? Fair-weather fans are those people who stay with a sports team when it is popular to follow the team, who follow a sports team when the team is winning its games and who go to the games when the weather for the games is sunny … <\/p>\n