The readings at Mass today provide a wonderful introduction to Lent which begins tomorrow, Ash Wednesday. The passages we read from the Letter of James and the Gospel of Mark both point to the purpose and spirit of the season we are about to begin.

James asks us where our quarrels and conflicts come from and then answers his own question: “It is our own inner cravings. . . . We desire what another has and so we seek to destroy him in order to have it.” James also tells us that we do not have what we need because we do not ask for it in humble prayer – the emphasis is on ‘humble’ – because “God resists the proud but bestows his favor on the lowly.”

Here, in a nutshell, is our program for Lent: fasting from our evil desires and prayer. Fasting from food is good – but fasting from selfishness runs deeper. Prayer provides the strength. In yesterday’s Gospel Jesus reminds us “This kind [of demon] can only be cast out by  prayer and fasting.”

Today’s Gospel also points the way into our Lenten journey. Jesus was instructing his disciples about his coming sufferings and death. Here is where our attention is fixed in this holy season. The disciples did not want to hear of it so they began arguing among themselves about who was the most important. One can almost hear the strains of James again – quarreling and disputes. Their idea of the Kingdom was very different from the one Jesus was presenting. So Jesus had to correct them by placing a small child in their midst: A child – symbol of our smallness, our dependence on God, our need for help.

Tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, we begin anew. We can “repent and believe in the Gospel.” Happy Lent!