Dear Parishioners:
We are on the threshold of the Holy Season of Lent. This week, the Catholic Church begins the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting and abstinence. There are four Masses on Ash Wednesday at 7:30 am, 9:00 am School Mass, 12:05 pm, and 7:00 pm. Ashes will be imposed at all Masses. And Confession with two priests at 11:00 am and 6:00 pm.
Ash Wednesday comes from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting. The practice includes the wearing of ashes on the head. The ashes symbolize the dust from which God made us. As the priest applies the ashes to a person's forehead, he speaks: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." We are invited to accept the ashes as a visible symbol of penance. The ashes are made from blessed palm branches. It is important to remember that Ash Wednesday is a day of penitential prayer, abstinence, and fasting.
Every Ash Wednesday, someone tells me I only remembered to abstain from eating meat "after I finished the last piece of chicken on my plate!" Some complain about how difficult it is to skip the meat and fast. There are always questions about what constitutes a small meal. But our fasts, abstinences, extra devotions, and self-denial are about more than just "following rules."
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the bookends to the journey of Lent, and they rightly ask each of us to make meaningful sacrifices. While we focus on the particulars, our desire for an interior life of peace should be the fuel that helps us burn through the uncomfortable days of fasting and abstinence and the forty days of doing something more.
To have a holy Lent, we need to rely upon the pillars of the season: Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving. Oftentimes, the most overlooked pillar of Lent is prayer. There are so many wonderful ways to pray more during Lent. More time given to prayer during Lent should draw us closer to the Lord. OLM has ample spiritual opportunities, such as Stations of the Cross, the Mission, Confession, Adoration, and Daily Mass. Also, there are Lenten Spiritual Books and materials available to assist your prayer. All these assist us in taking up more prayer over the 40 days of Lent.
"Fasting of the body is food for the soul," said St. John Chrysostom. We fast during Lent, recalling Jesus fasting forty days in the desert. Fasting from food, especially sweets, candy, dessert, or other things we enjoy, like coffee, cigars, or alcohol, is a sacrifice and penitential act of self-denial we offer during this season. There are many reasons for fasting during the season of Lent—an effort to join in Christ's suffering, detaching ourselves from worldly things, making more room for God in our lives, and practicing holy habits that will help us grow in virtue.
During Lent, we are asked to focus more intently on almsgiving, sacrificially giving to the poor, and performing other acts of charity. Saint Leo the Great said: "There is no more profitable practice as a companion to holy and spiritual fasting than that of almsgiving." There are practical ways to give alms this Lent. We begin the Catholic Charity Appeal this weekend, a most worthy charity. Also, take home a Catholic Relief Services' Rice Bowl and fill it with money for food for the hungry over the forty days of Lent. Locally assisting OLM Outreach is another way to give alms.
The French Catholic Philosopher René Girard once said: "Few people want to be saints nowadays, but everybody is trying to lose weight." Lent is our time to strive to be saints! The forty days of Lent are not a time to lose weight by giving up sweets. Rather, it is a time to renew and strengthen our spiritual health through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We pray more, fast more, and give more alms to become the saints Christ calls us to be!
Next weekend, Fr. Henry Stephan, OP, a Dominican Friar, will lead us on our Annual OLM Parish Mission. The complete Mission schedule and Father's biography are in the bulletin. Fr. Henry is a fine priest and outstanding preacher, and I know you will enjoy the Mission.
In the name of the needy and poor, I thank you for supporting the Catholic Charity Appeal. Be well. Do good. God Bless. Lent is coming: "Repent and believe in the Gospel!"