---
url: 'https://catholiciu.edu/a-lenten-reflection-prayer-fasting-and-alms/'
title: 'A Lenten Reflection: Prayer, Fasting, and Alms'
author:
  name: Emery Long
  url: 'https://catholiciu.edu/author/catholic-international-university-author/'
date: '2026-02-24T16:30:54+00:00'
modified: '2026-02-24T16:30:55+00:00'
type: post
categories:
  - Uncategorized
published: true
---

# A Lenten Reflection: Prayer, Fasting, and Alms

In one of his homilies, St. Peter Chrysologus, speaks of the merits of the three works of Lent:  
prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. “There are three things by which faith stands firm, devotion  
remains constant, and virtue endures: prayer, fasting, and alms.” He goes on to say that  
although each has its distinct work, these three are so closely united that they must be  
performed in consort; although they take different forms according to one’s duty of state, bodily  
strength, and finances, no one should neglect them. As he exhorts: “let prayer, alms, and  
fasting be one single plea to God on our behalf, one speech in our defense, a threefold united  
prayer in our favor.”  

In the parable of the sower, Our Lord speaks of those who persevere through trial but bear no  
fruit. These bear no fruit because they are choked by thorns, which Jesus explains are cares,  
riches, and pleasures. St. John speaks of these thorns in another way in his first letter: he calls  
them lust of the flesh (pleasures), lust of the eyes (riches) and pride of life (cares). That lust of  
the flesh is pleasures is clear: each of us has experienced the way the flesh desires something  
and ‘lusts’ after it, irritating us until we give in. The most vehement example is sexual desire,  
and for that reason such desire is also the most destructive when engaged in, but it also applies  
to other goods like food, drink, and rest. Over time, these pleasures choke us if we seek them  
for their own sake and not as a means to a higher end.

  
Riches is lust of the eyes, since the eyes see all the things they desire, much like when Satan  
took Jesus on high and showed him all the kingdoms of the world. Lust of the eyes sees  
money, security, houses, cars, vacations, clothing, shoes, books, tools, gadgets—whatever they  
can see, the eyes can desire in this way and this desire begins to choke when it overtakes and  
smothers spiritual desire. And cares are pride of life because they entail a desire to control  
one’s life rather than submitting to God. Pride of life chokes us because it undermines the good  
that would come from openness to the divine will and trust in his providence.

  
The remedies to these three threats are the works of Lent: prayer, fasting, and alms. Fasting  
works against the lust of the flesh by cutting off pleasures at their starting point, which is through  
food. Almsgiving combats the lust of the eyes by being free with what one possesses, looking  
upon riches as something to be used rather than hoarded. And prayer works against pride of  
life by putting one’s cares in the sight of God and truly desiring the kingdom of God before all  
else.

***Dom Alban Baker, CRNJ, ****received his Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) from the  
Dominican House of Studies in Washington DC. He is a member of the Canons Regular of the  
New Jerusalem, a monastic community serving the diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West  
Virginia, and also works for the Continuing Education Program at Catholic International  
University.*