From the Pastor’s Desk:
We are already weeks past from ASH WEDNESDAY as we celebrate the third Sunday of LENT. Lent is a time of prayer, penance and of course fasting. We all know about these three, but we may get lazy about half the way through the season and ask ourselves if it is important or even worth it. Perhaps we even ask ourselves, “why do anything at all?” Lent is a special season that is meant to be noticed. It is meant to make an impact upon us. However to make an impact we have to do something.
Within the Catholic Church there is such a richness of prayer. Prayer forms are found in either private or communal and within either there is a large variety. Within the communal during Lent we have two daily masses and the Stations of the Cross on Fridays evening concluding with Adoration and Benediction. There is always private prayer through Sacred Scripture as well as the opportunity to stop by and visit with our Eucharistic Lord from 9am to 6 pm each day. Take the time, make the time for added prayer.
Penance is something that we Americans do not like to hear about. We look at it as a punishment. That is a misconception. Penance is an action that is to be used to help us look deep within ourselves and change ourselves to become more like Christ. In our penance we are to pay more attention to God and the things of God. In the past, people thought of Lent as a personal retreat, forty days to get in spiritual shape by Easter. The opening prayer of the liturgy on Ash Wednesday spelled out clearly the proper meaning of the Season of Lent, “Father in heaven, the light of your truth bestows sight to the darkness of sinful eyes. May this season of repentance bring us the blessing of your forgiveness and the gift of your light.” If we make the Lenten journey with open hearts and minds, we will arrive at the tomb and see that it is surrounded by the light of the resurrected Christ.
Fasting also is a concept that we Americans do not want to hear. We have so much and take so much for granted, that fasting has a negative response for many people. When we fast we are denying ourselves to physically identify with the poor who have so little. The difference is that we can go to our refrigerators or freezers, whereas the poor may not even have a refrigerator. By denying ourselves wine, steak, ice cream, soda, or candy we should then be able to have alms to give to the poor. Alms are not what we give in the Sunday collection. Alms are the extra we give to help the poor. The discipline of Lent is to help us become more aware of others around us. To make us ready to be present at the empty tomb on Easter with more than an Easter basket full of candy. Let us have full hearts of God’s love.