One of my first jobs was working for a carpenter, Mr. Kasak,. This was in the summer of 1980. A tornado had blown through Sedalia, leaving a path of destruction. Almost every house along a five mile path about 100 yards wide was damaged. Mr. Kasak and I went from house to house repairing roofing and straightening laundry poles. 

One house needed more than shingles. We had to make a few new trusses to hold up the roof decking, replacing those that were damaged in the storm. One day we stayed at Mr. Kasak's workshop instead of going to where the storm damaged the houses. We were going to cut some rafters. I had gone up into the exposed attic of the house the day before and called out the measurements of the remaining good rafters for Mr. Kasak to take down. So back at the shop the first thing he did was draw out the full sized dimensions of the rafters on the driveway pavement with chalk lines. Then we went through the wood he had on stock and chose the pieces that would fit into the outline, being careful to check the grain of the wood and see if there was any warping, making sure each piece of stock was suited to the part it played.

He then made up a precise jig and used the jig to mark the lumber for final dimensioning. Since the existing rafters weren’t quite engineered trusses with metal gussets, we were able to replicate them fairly easily with standard lumber, nails, construction adhesive and plywood. I learned so much that day as he explained every step of the process, showed me how to use a framing square to find dimensions and angles, and especially understanding how the triangle is essential to a strong truss.

So what does a story about roof repair have to do with Lent? It’s all about the strength of the triangle. Arranging three simple elements in a correctly dimensioned triangle is critical to architectural strength. The season of Lent offers us a similar structure of renewal that can easily be understood, remembered, and practiced.
The first three things:  the moral life of a human being can be divided up into three key relationships:  our relationship with God, our relationship with others and our relationship with ourselves. If you recall the Ten Commandments, they too are based on these three relationships. When we go looking for the sin in our lives, there are three places, or three rooms where we need to open up the doors and let the light of the Gospel shine in the darkness of our sin. 

Now we can understand what Jesus was trying to teach us in the Sermon on the Mount:  when you pray, go upstairs, lock the door and pray to your father in secret. The first penitential practice of Lent, the first leg or first pillar of penance is prayer. The discipline of Lent requires us to attend to our prayer life. Since prayer is really in the end our relationship with God, this first pillar is meant to strengthen our prayer life and our relationship with God Himself. We can add more prayers, like the Stations of the Cross or we can just say the prayers we always pray but with a special intensity and fidelity. Most important though is that we devote more time to our relationship with God in prayer.

The second pillar of penance is charity or almsgiving. Obviously this Lenten discipline is meant to repair our relationship with others. This particular discipline is very important. It isn't about our ability to give a whole lot of money or let everyone know how good we are. It's meant to be very practical. It is meant to reconnect us to the poor who live around us. That is where we should find Jesus most easily, with the poor. This pillar of Lent isn’t just limited to almsgiving. Every sin is an offense against charity. The penitential practice of charity is meant to repair the harm from our sins against others. It’s not just being more loving or kind in our attitudes. True charity is an act of the will, giving to another without expecting anything in return. The Lenten pillar of charity not only is a benefit to others, but also is an essential discipline to personal conversion of heart.

Finally, the third pillar of penance is fasting or acts of self-denial. This isn't just about testing our willpower by giving up a few special treats like sweets or meat. Self-denial is not complete until we have tested the limits of what we can stand. Effective self-denial does not lead to pride or arrogance. Effective self-denial should bring us to our knees and remind us how much we depend on God and others to make it through every day. That is why Lent begins with a day of fasting and abstinence on Ash Wednesday, March 2. The Church requires all of the required age and health condition to make a significant reduction in our caloric intake and thereby give a concrete example of self-denial. No meat allowed. Fasting is just one of the ways to assist us in denying our sinful inclinations and sharpening our desire to do good. Self denial is meant to confront the central obsessions of our lives, allowing God to restore grace to what sin has twisted into the many vices that ensnare us.

When we have a good balance among the three disciples of Lent, each one will tend to support the other. It's like those trusses. Indeed, the triangle is the strongest structure in architecture. The three disciplines of Lent allow us to build a new house and strengthen our relationships with God, others and self, a house where we are better disposed to be once again transformed by grace of the Paschal Mystery during Holy Week and Easter.