Lent is a fantastic time for introspection, realization, and the expansion of purity.

That purity can only come through love.

The Pope reminded us last week not to use harsh words about others.

In these times, it is especially wise to block one’s ears from podcasts that are overly strident and use profanity.

When it comes to inner purity, a huge aid is fasting.

Contemplating what the Virgin Mary said about it at Medjugorje in 1982 is powerful. “Through fasting and prayer, one can stop wars, one can suspend the laws of nature. Charity cannot replace fasting. Those who are not able to fast can sometime replace it with prayer, charity and a confession; but everyone, except the sick, must fast.”

Read that twice. Spread it to friends and family members. “Suspend the laws of nature.” We may need that soon. In any season, we may need it as far as our health.

The best fasts go beyond “abstinence.”

Life is not a roulette wheel for those who invoke Him with faith, and that means realizing that there is not a single illness or handicap that He can’t correct. There is nothing He can’t do. He created the physical laws; He can suspend them.

God is our power and it’s up to us to start thinking of Him that way. Begin seeing Him everywhere all the time, start seeing the Lord in the ordinary, start seeing Him in the extraordinary (knowing He can do that just as readily) and you now are under the control of a being Who can erase all negativity to which you have been exposed and reverse any damage.

How can anyone, looking at all the extraordinary circumstances of His Life, deny that Jesus is the One and Only Son of God? Truly, who can deny His Power?

For it is written (John 5:19-29):

“Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.

“For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.

“For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.

“Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”

[resources: Lenten books]