Pastor’s Corner — February 19th, 2023
Ash Wednesday Mass Schedule and Location
Just a reminder to see our Ash Wednesday Mass schedule. Because of the renovation in the church, all the masses will be in Parish Life Center. If you’re coming to Mass at the PLC, it might be wise to come a few minutes early as the small parking availability at the PLC will cause a lot of people to have to park at the Church parking lot and walk over.
Giving up Stuff and Lenten Practices
As a special season penance that helps prepare us to enter more deeply into celebrating the mysteries of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection, Lent is a special time of deeper personal conversion in love. Therefore, we never undertake penances for their own sake. Everything we “give up” or every additional devotion we “add” must be for the sake of growing in greater conversion in receiving love from God or giving his love to others. Love is the point of it all. The Church enjoins penitential practices upon us because, as a good mother, she wishes that each of us love Jesus more perfectly. Lent is thus a perfect time to take seriously growing our spiritual life and our relationships.
My encouragement is to make sure that every Lenten practice you do be aimed at growing in self-denial for the sake of love, which means greater openness to relationships. The traditional practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving are inherently relational and they have the power to break us out of the narrow confines of ourselves. One of my favorite little books to recommend for Lent is Lenten Healing: 40 Days to Set you Free from Sin by Ken Kniepmann.
If we were to compare how strict the Church practiced fasting and abstinence from meat just a few centuries ago to now, we would understand that what the Church is asking of us today is fairly weak. Below are the current Church norms for Lenten fasting and abstinence from meat here (from the USCCB website)
“Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence. For members of the Latin Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal. The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Latin Catholic Church from age 14 onwards.”
DMI Survey Next Weekend (February 25/26)
A few years ago every parish in the diocese completed the Disciple Maker Index survey administered by the Catholic Leadership Institute. The Diocese is asking us to do the same this Lent. The purpose of the anonymous survey is to get an honest snapshot into where people are in their beliefs and habits around discipleship so that parishes can better serve Catholics in following the Lord. Since we did our short survey during Mass last time, I’m asking that parishioners who have smartphones bring them into Mass next weekend the First Sunday of Lent. We will also have paper copies of the survey available for those who do not have smartphones.
MSU Shooting and Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria
As I write this, people are still reeling from the news of the shooting at the Michigan State University in which three people died and others were injured. The fact that violence like this can hit so close to home without warning, violence that seems to be more common than ever, is difficult to face. Life is precious and every moment is a gift. Let us pray for all the victims involved. Let us also pray for the healing of people who are deceived in thinking that doing such things is going to solve any of their problems.
With so many headlines, it’s possible that they’ve drowned headlines on the terrible earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria last week and tremendous loss of life that resulted. Right now the death toll is around 36,000 people. Let that sink in. Such sheer devastation is hard to imagine. Right now there is a critical humanitarian need in the region. The Diocese is leading an effort to get people to donate to humanitarian organizations. Below are websites of a couple of trustworthy Catholic international humanitarian aid organizations that can help right now. Instead of doing a second collection after mass, I’m asking parishioners to prayerfully consider donating by following links below.
1) Caritas International (www.caritas.org)
2) Catholic Near East Welfare Association (www.cnewa.org)
Pro-tip: When donating to charity, it is helpful to say a little prayer when you click donate such as, “I do this act of love in Jesus’ name.” Or “I do this act of love for you Jesus who so identify with the needy.” Prayers like these keep our acts of charity truly love-focused and for his glory.
Retreat for Young Women Open to Consecrated Life
In this bulletin you’ll find some information on page 10 about a discernment retreat for young women. If you know someone who might be considering religious life, this important retreat is for them.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias