Dear God

Letters to the Lord

3-1-23

Dear God:

Another Lenten Season is upon us. I try to do more penance, prayer, acts of charity, and fasting/abstinence during this season. To be able to humble myself and to deny myself the attractions of this world, even if only for 40 days can only help me become a better person.

It's hard though. Very hard.

Especially the fasting/abstinence part. I know Jesus said when you fast to not look glum and to proceed as normal in your daily life. That's a hard thing to do when you are hungry. Nevertheless, I do vow to do the 24 hour fasts all through Lent, and with Your help Lord by the end it will be much easier, and I will be a few pounds lighter!

Now on to why I really wrote You this letter - doing penance for our sins. As You know our world is really awful right now. There is so much pride, darkness, sin, blaspheme and outright demonic activity going on and there appears to be no end in sight. We have no earthly leaders who even know what the definition of “penance” is and will NEVER repent for anything. We are no Nineveh. Our society will NEVER humble itself and repent of our sins, from the king on down. Whole cities will NEVER physically fast, put on sackcloth, and sit in ashes. We will NEVER do penance for our wickedness, even if You came down and specifically told us we will be destroyed if we don't repent.

We just don't care, at all.

So Lord, I am just a nobody. I'm not a king, not a president, not a movie/tv/internet star, not a millionaire, not a government official, not even a person anyone in this world would look twice at. But in this Lenten Season I vow to do penance not only for my own sins, but for the sins of this current world. If the "oh-so important people" of this world refuse to acknowledge the harm they are doing, refuse to get on their knees and say "sorry Lord for the sins I committed" and instead double down on their ignorance, pride, greed and avarice, well then this "unimportant person" will do penance for them.

Lord, take pity on us and this world. I know we deserve destruction for everything we are doing, and if I were in Your shoes I would have probably snuffed out this world long ago. But You are infinite love and infinite patience. You hear the small voices of repentance. You see the small acts of charity, prayer and fasting from the complete nobodies of this world. Hopefully, as Abraham once asked of You regarding Sodom and Gomorrah, there are enough righteous people left in this world for You to spare us our doom and help us right this sinking ship.

Thus, during this Lenten Season, when I fast/abstain, I will do it in penance for the evil of this world. When I say my prayers, I will do it to counteract the worship of materialism/transhumanism/communism/atheism/deviency in this world. When I do acts of charity, it will be a way to bring some goodness into this world full of selfishness and narcissism. For what it's worth, I'm truly sorry Lord that we are such ingrateful wretches. Jesus, I'm sorry that we rejected your sacrifice for us. I'm sorry that not "one important person" in this world can deign him/herself to put on sackcloth and sit in ashes as penance for the sins they relish in and inflict on innocent people.

I'm truly sorry that we just don't care, at all.

Lord, may You have mercy on us all. "Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison, Kyrie Eleison."

Sincerely,

Napoleon