Archbishop Charles Scicluna’s homilies are never long. He knows that people’s attention span is limited and that the mind can easily wander away if sermons become too pedantic and stretched out. So he usually restricts his preaching to a few minutes, in which he tries to pass on a message pertaining to the occasion which he is presiding. Very often, that message hits hard as it goes directly to the heart.

Last Wednesday, his seven-minute morning homily on the first day of Lent touched on so many aspects of our everyday life.

For Catholics, Lent is a 40-day period of repentance that prepares the way for the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ. It is also a time of sacrifice in which Church members are expected to abstain themselves from pleasures of life. Some, for example, go 40 days without eating their favourite food or snack. Others do not consume meat, particularly on Fridays, while fasting is also another way by which Catholics live their faith during this time.

But what Mgr Scicluna said in last Wednesday’s homily went far beyond the idea that fasting, not eating meat, chocolates or sweets for 40 days makes one holy. These are, in his words, “external” matters which we may do for other reasons, including our own health, not only as a “religious” exercise. There is then a more “radical” way of fasting, he said, giving several examples as to how this can be achieved, with more important results.

One way of fasting, he said, could be to hold back on a word or too which, we know before saying it, is going to be offensive. This also applies to what we write on the social media, which has become another platform for hate, and which causes so much distress.

Mgr Scicluna gave other examples of how “radical fasting” can occur, such as by doing less damage to the environment, a very subtle accusation against the greed of the construction industry, in our view. This sector of the economy, important as it may be, has given rise to so much controversy in the past years, as more land is being eaten up by greedy developers at the expense of the little that is left of open spaces.

He also spoke about the need for “fasting” to hold back our anger, vengeance and selfishness. This is the kind of fasting that does us a world of good, the Archbishop said. If we are all less angry, less vengeful and less selfish, the world would be a much better place.

The overall message that the archbishop wanted to convey is that we need to take a deep look within ourselves and remove, or at least attempt, all that is hindering us from reaching peace; just like that tree that needs to be pruned to become stronger. Fasting is also the ability to get rid of all that disturbs us. If we manage to contain ourselves, imagine the peace that we will achieve, the archbishop’s underlying message was.

It is a big thing to go without chocolate for 40 days, but it is pointless to go through such a sacrifice if, then, we are always ready to gossip about a neighbour, or stab a working colleague in the back, or abandon our elderly parents.

It may do us good to deprive ourselves of things we like as a form of sacrifice, but it would be much better to show solidarity with people in need, give a helping hand to someone who requires our assistance or show common courtesy to people we come across. A good deed, even the smallest one, makes other people’s life better. Is it so hard to say please and thank you? Is it so hard to say sorry when you know you’re in the wrong?

The archbishop concluded his sermon last Wednesday reminding everyone that, after all, we will all end up six feet under.

“From dust to dust”, Mgr Scicluna said. The important thing is what to do in between. What kind of life have you chosen in the time you were given between being dust and returning to dust?

A point to ponder.