Lent is a time to get our priorities straight

As we continue our journey of Lent, I pray that this will be a time when we draw closer to God. The Church encourages us to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent and to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. This is a minimum observance and hopefully will draw us into further observances that will assist us to live this Holy Season in a manner which will help us to love God and to love neighbor more strongly.
Mere observances of Lent lack meaning unless they bring about good in us. One of the early saints of the Church, St. John Chrysostom, cautioned us about our Lenten observance and stated that it 
has no advantage to us unless it brings about our spiritual renewal. It is necessary while fasting to change our whole life and practice virtue. Turning away from all wickedness means keeping our tongue in check, restraining our anger, avoiding all gossip, lying and swearing. To abstain from these things herein lies the true value (of our Lenten observance).
We do ourselves an injustice if we view our Lenten observances of prayer, fasting and almsgiving as things to be done for 40 days and then be discarded as we return to our former ways. The word Lent means springtime and Lent is meant as an opportunity for us to renew ourselves and become more the person God calls us to be. There is a somber tone of Lent. We are challenged to remember our mortality. The short sentence said to us on Ash Wednesday sets that tone: “Remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return.”
These are serious words aimed at jolting us into taking an honest appraisal of ourselves. If we would die at this moment, is this the way we would want to be as we stand before God for judgment?
Lent points to a hard truth: We are all going to die. We are here only for the moment. We are travelers passing through this world. God has given us this wonderful world to use but not to grow attached to and certainly not to prefer the world to Him and His love.
Thomas a Kempis, the great Dutch writer of the 15th century, wrote:
Wait a little while, my soul, await the promise of God, and you will have the fullness of all that is good in heaven. If you yearn inordinately for the good things of this life, you will lose those which are heavenly and eternal. Use temporal things properly, but always desire what is eternal. Temporal things can never fully satisfy you, for you were not created to enjoy them alone … for your blessedness and happiness lie only in God who has made all things from nothing.
Our Lenten prayer should be that of St. Augustine who wrote: “Lord, you know me. Let me know you.” He warns that the things of life cannot be allowed to distract us from God: “As for the other things in this life, the less they deserve tears, the more likely will they be lamented; and the more they deserve tears, the less likely men will sorrow them.” 
Lent is a time to get our priorities straight. This is the time to repent of all the darkness in our lives and turn to the Light that is Christ. This is not the time to delay because one day all will be exposed before the brightness of Christ.