“The heart preparing for Communion should be as a crystal vial filled with clear water in which the least mote of uncleanness will be seen.”
                          ~St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

For Reflection:
To what extent do I actually “prepare” for Holy Communion? To what extent do I see myself clearly enough so that my sins and transgressions are plain to me? What do I think is the relationship between preparation, repentance, and a fervent reception of Holy Communion?

In Conversation With God Vol 2
Daily Meditations Lent and Easter 
Francis Fernandez-Carvajal
Pb 609 pgs
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LENT-FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY
3. A TIME FOR PENANCE
3.1 Fasting and other signs of penance in Jesus’ preaching and in the life of the Church.

Fasting was then, and always will be, one more sign of the spirit of penance that God asks of man.  In the Old Testatment we can find gradually developing with ever increasing richness, the religious sense of penance, as a personal religious act, which has its end love for and abandonment in God. When it is accompanied by prayer it can be used to manifest humility before God.  The man who fasts turns towards God in an attitude of total dependence and abandonment.