In today's Gospel for Ash Wednesday, we hear Jesus talk about prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The Church puts this Gospel before us to invite us to focus on these three things during Lent. For what purpose? Because we human beings get so easily attached to things. So the Church proposes almsgiving as the remedy for our attachment to money and material wealth; prayer (time given to God) as the remedy for our attachment to our time and schedule; fasting as the remedy for our attachment to food, drink, and sensual pleasures.