Ash Wednesday has come and gone. Soon, the first week of Lent will be here…and then gone.

Soon, you’ll be closing in on Laetare Sunday.

Soon after, you’ll have your new blessed Palms…and then it’ll be Holy Week.

Soon…every single day of your life will have passed and the day will be that of your Judgment.

This Lent could be your last. What are the most important things you should be embracing in your spiritual life this year?

First, separate yourself from this world.

Our Lord Jesus Christ became incarnate for the sole purpose of delivering us from the snares of this fallen world. He did not come to redeem the passing world but to redeem mankind. Each man born into this world is given the opportunity to enter into communion with the One True God. At death, each man will be judged on whether he corresponded to the divine initiatives to save his soul, and he will be redeemed or damned based on the answer. The rest of creation comes and goes, is born and dies, grows and withers, without a single thought of eternity. It is man alone among all the visible creatures who will pass on to a life beyond this world: Heaven or Hell.

Thus, Our Lord came to deliver us from this passing world and all of its allurements and deceptions. Chief among these is the lie that “this world is all there is.” This lie convinces men to build their kingdoms here, to slave away at their work solely for the accumulation of earthly riches, and to look away from the strong calls of the Gospel which place demands on their time and on their riches. Attachment to this world, and ensnarement in the game it beckons us to play, leads us to forfeit our Redeemer’s offer of eternal glory with Him in Heaven in exchange for the passing and unfulfilling enjoyments of this life.

Therefore, second, prepare daily for your imminent death.

“Life is so short that we should be preparing for how to die rather than for how to live.” Thus spoke the great Doctor of the Church, St. Teresa of Avila. In this life, it is a most dreadful thing to be hauled into court, even for something so…venial…as a speeding ticket. The day of death will be an even more dreadful thing for those who are not well-prepared, for the court of Divine Judgement will be convoked in the very spot where we die. It is important to note that even many of the Saints were in great fear of the day of their death, even though it was obvious to onlookers that they were well-prepared. What shook them with such fear?

The judge in the Parable of the dishonest steward said, “What is this that I hear about thee? Give an account of thy stewardship: for now thou canst be steward no longer” (Lk 16:2 DR). This steward, to whom wealth had been entrusted, had been dishonest with it. Have we not also been entrusted with stewardship over a great wealth – our souls – and have we not also been dishonest with it – through sin? This the Saints feared more keenly than do the overwhelming majority of Christians. How so? Sin, as St. Thomas teaches, dulls our senses and our understanding. We cannot understand the true horror of sin, and we do not have the necessary sorrow that sin entails; as a result, we do not sufficiently repent for that which we have done and for that which, nonetheless, we are responsible.

Contrariwise, we also know that Our Lord is rich in mercy and will receive the repentant sinner as soon as that one turns his will toward God. Then, having passed through mercy here, the Justice of God will be appeased by the Death of Jesus and the death of that sinner will be sweet, so long as he perseveres in faith. St. Paul warns us though, saying, “[Do not] presume upon the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, [forgetful that] God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance” (cf. Rom. 2:4).

Therefore, all of our efforts this Lent must be directed toward deepening our repentance, letting our solemn and sober “no” to the allurements of the world resound from the very depths of our being, and making our zealous “yes” to eternal glory with Christ, at the cost of death to this world, echo so loudly from within us that the very earth quakes with our renunciation of its boastings, and the fire of divine love, which Jesus Christ has already cast into our souls at Baptism, erupts with a revolutionary force.

With these things in mind, we can understand the famous paraphrased words of St. Catherine of Siena more clearly: “If you are who you are supposed to be, you will set the world ablaze.” Become who you were born to be – lay aside the worldly man and your ambitions within it. Set your face toward the Heavenly Jerusalem and the glory Christ promised to those who love Him.

“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”