¹ Our Lord and Saviour exhorts and admonishes us, through the prophet, concerning the way we ought to come to Him after many negligences, saying: “Come, let us worship and bow down before the Lord who made us”, and again: “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning”.

² For, dearest brothers, if we consider it carefully, the days of the holy Lent symbolize the life of this present world, just as the days of Easter prefigure eternal blessedness. And just as we experience a kind of sorrow during Lent so that we may rightly rejoice at Easter, so too in this world, as long as we live, we must practice repentance so that in the future we may receive the forgiveness of sins and attain eternal joy. Yet each person ought to sigh over their sins, shed tears, and give alms in such a way that, with God’s help, they also strive to avoid those very sins as long as they live. For just as no one has ever been, nor ever will be, entirely without minor faults, so too, by God’s gift and assistance, we must strive in every way to be free from grave sins.

³ In order to obtain these things, if at other times the distractions of the world keep us occupied, let us at least during the days of the holy Lent meditate on the law of the Lord day and night, as it is written, and so fill our hearts with the sweetness of the divine law that we leave no place empty of virtues, where vices might take hold. For just as in the time of harvest or vintage, dearest brothers, we gather what is needed to sustain our bodies, so also in the days of Lent, as in a time of spiritual harvest or vintage, let us gather what may sustain our souls for eternity. Because just as a negligent person who gathers nothing during the time of harvest or vintage will suffer hunger throughout the whole year, so also one who fails in this time to provide for and store up spiritual wheat and heavenly wine through fasting, reading, and prayer in the storehouses of his soul will suffer the most terrible thirst and cruel want for eternity.

⁴ Know for certain, dearest brothers, that just as the body, after many days without food, becomes weak, so too is the soul if it is not nourished regularly by the word of God. And just as the body, through hunger and lack, becomes thin and dry, appearing like a mere shadow, so also the soul, if it is not fed with the food of God’s word, becomes barren, useless, and unfit for any good work. Consider, dearest brothers, how we prepare barns, granaries, and cellars each year so that our bodies may have food for one year—how much more, then, should we store up what will sustain our souls for eternity? Therefore, dearest brothers, let the distractions of the world be set aside at least in these few days, for according to Scripture, negligence leads many to misery. Let worldly pleasures be put away, let the deceptive allurements of this world, filled with poison, be rejected. Let the joys of the flesh be diminished so that spiritual gains for the soul may be prepared, in accordance with what is written: “Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep”, and “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted”.

⁵ Let the time that reckless gaming used to steal from us now be occupied with divine reading, and let conversations from the Holy Scriptures take the place of idle tales, biting jokes, and harmful slanders. In the hours that we used to spend in hunting to the detriment of our souls, let us instead visit the sick, seek out those in prison, welcome strangers, and reconcile those who are in discord.

⁶ If we do these things, brothers, we will be able to prepare healing for ourselves from the very place where we inflicted our wounds. Above all, during the days of fasting, let us give to the poor what we would have spent on our usual meals, lest anyone, instead of truly fasting, seek to prepare extravagant dinners and feasts with exquisite flavors, appearing to have merely changed rather than reduced their abundance of food. There is no benefit in observing a long fast throughout the day if afterward the soul is overwhelmed by the delight or excess of food. For when the mind is filled with indulgence, the watered soil of our body will produce the thorns of lust.

⁷ Let our food, therefore, be moderate, never allowing the stomach to be excessively full, and let us always think more about the nourishment of the heart than the nourishment of the body. For we have been made in the inner man according to the image of God, whereas in the flesh we have been formed from the dust of the earth. Consider, brothers, whether it is right that the flesh, which was made from the earth, receives food daily, while the soul, which is the image of God, scarcely receives the word of God after many days. Yet it is far more fitting for us to honour the image of God within us rather than our own flesh. Those who think only of the flesh are like beasts and cattle, and those who live in this way have already worn away the image of God within themselves.

⁸ Let the flesh, then, be governed as a servant, while the soul, as its rightful mistress, is given preeminence. But if we act otherwise—if we fail to recognize that we were made in the image of God and concern ourselves more with the flesh than the soul—I fear that the Holy Spirit will rebuke us through the prophet, saying: “Man, when he was in honour, did not understand; he was compared to the senseless beasts and became like them”.

⁹ Gladly listen to the readings of the divine Scriptures in church, as you are accustomed, and reread them in your homes. If anyone is so occupied that he cannot devote himself to the study of divine Scripture before his meal, let him not hesitate to read something from the sacred texts during his meal, so that just as the body is nourished with food, the soul may be refreshed by the word of God, and the whole person—both outward and inward—may rise from the holy and saving feast fully satisfied. For if only the body is nourished while the soul is not refreshed by the word of God, then the servant is filled while the mistress suffers hunger. Your holiness cannot be unaware of how unjust this is.

¹⁰ Therefore, as I have already said, you should desire to hear and read the divine Scriptures with such eagerness that you are able to speak about them in your homes and wherever you may be, and even to teach others, ruminating on the word of God like clean animals through constant meditation, so that you may both absorb its nourishing essence—that is, its spiritual meaning—for yourselves and, with God’s help, share it with others. In this way, you will fulfil what is written: “And your chalice, which inebriates, how glorious it is!”, and also what the blessed Apostle exhorts and admonishes: “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God”.

¹¹ If health permits, fast daily and rise eagerly and fervently for vigils, in accordance with what is written: “My spirit watches for you, O God, day and night”, and again: “In the morning I will pray to you, Lord, and you will hear my voice”, and again: “At midnight I arose to give praise to your name, O Lord”. To this, our Lord and Savior also exhorts and admonishes us in the Gospel, saying: “Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation”. May He Himself grant this, to whom belong honour and dominion with the Father and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.