In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. 
"Your Father who sees in secret will repay you."
In Lent, we willingly make sacrifices, starting today, fasting, abstinence, and then whatever sacrifice we choose to make in Lent. In Lent, we willingly make these sacrifices because we have confidence that God sees in secret and repays, rewards in secret. When we sacrifice, we give something up, we make some space, some extra space for God in our life, and we're confident that God will fill that space abundantly with much better things than we give up. So we do that. It's an amazing thing. God sees in secret, repays in secret. 
We wear ashes on our foreheads today, for example, you know, whatever it may cost, you know, people might look at us and think we're weird, but that's part of it. We do penance, we sacrifice because God repays in secret. All the good actions, all the good thoughts, everything, nothing goes unnoticed.
So, the first thing I always recommend in Lent is do good. So we give stuff up in Lent, of course, and that's a good thing, but we also should recommit to doing good, maybe multiply the good actions we do, even small ones, because God sees them all and repays generously. I think that's a great motivation to sacrifice the fact that God sees it all, even if it's microscopic, and repays it all disproportionately generously. It's just an amazing thing. 
But then also, because God sees in secret, He sees all the bad that's there as well that maybe others don't see, but we know is there, all the bad actions, but also the words, even the thoughts. He sees beneath what other people can see, and that's a good thing, too, because we want to be known in that way, and it's a thing to do in Lent, also examine ourselves and ask ourselves. How does God see us? Because, again, God sees in secret to the depths of our soul. 
He sees whether a person loves Him with his whole heart, or if in that same heart there is other gods, false gods, right alongside the true God. God sees that. 
God sees whether we go to Holy Communion with fervor, with love, with reverence, or maybe distraction, indifference, or even with mortal sin. God sees all that, whether we go to confession, same thing, with fervor, with true repentance, with true desire for holiness, or whether we go indifferently, routinely, or maybe even sacrilegiously. God sees all that, and Lent is an opportunity to think about that. God sees it all. 
God sees whether in our thoughts we truly forgive our enemies, and even think well of them, wish to do them good, or whether we are actually in our hearts. Desire is of revenge. He sees all the temptations that a person chases away for the love of God, and if it's, let's say, an impure temptation for the love of husband and wife, you know, just chasing away those impure temptations, but He sees all the ones that a person also entertains.
He sees the judgment, the rash judgment, the calumny, the detraction, but also, again, the good thoughts. He sees the good thoughts that we have about our neighbor, even when it's hard, even when it's difficult. So God sees all that. 
He sees in secret and repays us. So while on the one hand, not the slightest evil will go without retribution, but at the same time, not even the smallest good done for the love of God will go without its repayment and reward as well.
So now is the acceptable time. Lent is the beginning. Lent is the beginning of that acceptable time. We kind of take a moment to look at ourselves. How does God see me? What does God see there in secret? You know, there's like a healthy, during Lent, a healthy increased recollection, as our Lord says in the Gospel. You know, "close the door, go to your room, pray in secret," take that time to spend alone with God, ask our Lady to go there with you. And let God see. In secret. What is there? An examination of conscience, a healthy examination of conscience. And such a healthy examination of conscience leads to the best resolutions for Lent. Because maybe giving up some food item is very easy, whereas forgiving somebody is very hard. And God sees in secret, okay, that was easy to give up that piece of food for 40 days. How come you're not doing the hard thing, you know? How come you're not actually doing the thing that's going to lead you closer to Me? And so on and so forth.
So that examination of conscience in secret is very good. To let go of the sin, to make that space for God, and God will enter that space, fill it abundantly, disproportionately, more than we can imagine, because He's just an awesome God like that. 
Let's ask our Lady to give us that confidence in our merciful Father, and to desire that mercy today, and for all of Lent. And for our whole life. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.