Pastor’s Letter: March 6

Pastor’s Letter: March 6

4 Mar 2022 | Posted by: chadmin

The March 6 bulletin is available online.

Dear friend,

We had a great start to Lent on Ash Wednesday. This season is an intensified time of prayer and reflection on the gift and meaning of life. Lent is an opportunity for us to renew our commitment to God, increase our prayer, and experience the grace of fasting for conversion. Lent reminds us that we all have spiritual needs. God is always there to support and guide us, but we have to do our part. As Christians, we are readily reminded of the need to support the needs of the world and the Church with our prayers, stewardship, service, and love. The Season of Lent is meant to be an intensified time of prayer and reflection on the gift and meaning of life. The 40 days of Lent are a reminder of the 40 days Jesus was in the desert fasting and praying. During those days, he overcame temptation and communicated his resolve to be faithful to himself and his Father in Heaven. The Gospel this weekend tells of Jesus enduring the temptation of Satan. Satan offers the same temptations of power, prestige, honor, and security. These same temptations come our way with often different results. While the Lord remains sinless, temptation often results in our cooperation with something that leads us away from God. The success of Jesus shows us that Lent is an opportunity for us to renew our commitment to God, increase our prayer, and experience the grace of fasting for conversion. The invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops offers us all an immediate reason to pray, fast and give alms this Lent.

As with each Season of Lent, we have daily meditation books. These provide a reflection for daily reading. Simple additions to our daily walk with the Lord can help us deepen our relationship with Jesus. Lent provides us the opportunity to focus on prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Fasting is of course a form of sacrifice, a spiritual reminder to our bodies that our will is in charge, and a way to remember that we all are called to hunger for God’s love and forgiveness. The giving of alms helps us focus on worldly needs beyond our own. Put simply, prayer is a conversation with God. As with any relationship, our relationship with God is only as strong as the time we give. Attendance at Mass and visits to the Adoration Chapel, along with family prayer at home, ensure we keep the conversation with God growing. We added a daily Mass at 5:30pm with confession time at 5pm, Monday through Friday to help foster your Lenten journey.

God bless,

Father David