Hello, beautiful People of God!
I can’t believe that I am typing this, but Ash Wednesday is THIS WEEK! Oh my Lord…I’m just blown away by that. The other neat thing is that Ash Wednesday will be the six-month anniversary of the beginning of construction on Holy Family Church. To my Holy Family parishioners, we will have been in our lovely exile for six months and I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your patience, your flexibility and flat out joy in our unusual situation. Bless you!
So, a couple reminders that our Lenten Season begins on Ash Wednesday and the following are some disciplines that we Catholics commit to:
– We abstain from meat on Friday
– We make sure that we get to the Sacrament of Reconciliation before Holy Thursday
– We choose a Lenten discipline where we give something up to grow in self control
– We up our prayer life
– We up our giving
My personal theme this Lent is “Up My Game.” It’s a football phrase for finding another gear in order to push myself harder to give more of myself to God and you. Come, Holy Spirit!
A couple general things unrelated to Lent:
Please be aware of any emails you get from St. Mark or Holy Family. Check the email address and be sure that it’s from someone at our email addresses. Even if the name says “Fr. Joe Krupp,” you have to click it to see if it is actually from me. People are ghosting emails from Holy Family and St. Mark, trying to trick people into sending money, Apple gift cards, etc. Please be careful. I will not send you an email if I am in trouble. I will not ask you personally for donations or money help over email.
The second thing is about people asking for money at Church. I have spoken to the police, social workers and Catholic Charities and all three strongly advise against giving money to people who ask, as difficult as that may be. Please feel free to give food or a ride, but when we give money, we may unintentionally be facilitating a drug or alcohol habit. Beyond that, when word “gets out” that there is money to be gained, more and more people show up in order to ask for money.
On both of these topics, I’m going to need to send out periodic reminders. We continue to struggle with these two issues so I will do my best to periodically remind you of these things.
I love you all and thank God that I get to be your priest.
fjk
