Pastor’s Letter: March 1, 2020

Pastor’s Letter: March 1, 2020

28 Feb 2020 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear friend,

On this First Sunday of Lent we hear the story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert. After His Baptism, when the voice of the Father is heard identifying Jesus as the Son of God, Jesus enters the desert to pray. His forty days in the desert are a time of preparation for His ministry. Jesus spent the time praying and fasting in order to have a proper perspective on His ministry ordered toward the Father. To many of us, it seems when we try to get closer to God, the things of this world seem more alluring. This is what Jesus faced during His time in the desert. He was tempted to turn stones to bread, to cast himself off a high place, and to worship the Enemy. Each of these temptations were about denying himself, denying His true relationship to the Father, or to misuse His power. These are the same temptations we all face when we intensify our efforts to grow closer to God. We are often tempted to misuse our gifts, to deny what our gifts are, or to test our relationship with God or others for selfish gain. The invitation of Lent to pray, fast, and give alms are invitations to do something more for God and others. When we make the attempt to change or grow aspects of our lives, road blocks may come. The response Jesus gives to His temptation in the desert is to focus our attention on the Father, make sure our words and actions lead us closer to the Father, and to dismiss anything that would challenge us to keep God as the most important part of our lives. May Lent allow us the opportunity to refocus our intentions on God so that our lives are evidence of our Christian faith.

Our faith formation program in school offers our children many opportunities to learn about God and reflect on the lives of our holy ancestors. The Fulton J. Sheen beatification cause has encouraged our students to study his life and works. Our Junior High students were given the opportunity to write an interpretation on some of Sheen’s quotes. Fulton Sheen wrote, “When a man loves a woman, he has to become worthy of her. The higher her virtue, the more noble her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her. The history of civilization could actually be written in terms of the level of its women.” There is true beauty in these words, both for the women in our community and the communal beliefs of our culture. For your spiritual reflection, this bulletin includes a few of the interpretations of Sheen’s quotes. I hope you are inspired to reflect on human dignity and our role to create a just society, as were our students. Have a great week.

God bless,

Father David