From Chiara’s diary

But what meaning does Lent have in our Christian life? It reminds us, among other things, that life is a struggle, a race.

Saint Catherine used to say: “Run, run because time is short.”

Her “run” echoed that of the Apostle: “Do you not realize that, though all the runners in the stadium take part in the race, only one of them gets the prize? Therefore run like that in order to win. Those who participate in the race willingly undergo every kind of sacrifice in order to win a wreath that will wither away, whereas ours will never wither.”

There then we have the sacrifices. Call them what you want: they are those small acts against our will, our instincts, against our innate egoism that Lent proposes to draw us closer to Jesus Christ.