The second focus of Lent is fasting.  There are two specific days we are to fast (one main meal and two light meals) and abstain from meat. Those are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Then all Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence. But there is another, more important, type of fasting we are urged to do. That is fast from the sins that separate us from God or dampen our relationship. In many ways this is a harder fast. Yet, it is because of our sins that Jesus gave his life for our life. How better can we enter into the spirit of the Lenten season than to consciously uproot sin and its effects from our lives. We may not be able to rid ourselves of all sin (the ideal), but we can eliminate one or two sins which have been part of our lives for a long time. What will our life look like at Easter and afterwards? Isn’t this the intent of Jesus’ invitation: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel”? Without a “metanoia” experience (turn away from sin and turn to the Lord), Lent will only be another forty days rather than a graced forty days.