Dear Brothers and Sisters,
How is your Lent going? Is it in the rearview mirror of life already? Perhaps on Ash Wednesday you had some dreams for opening your heart a little more to God, of encountering his power, beauty and love in new ways, of turning away from some sin or hardness of heart and experiencing God’s healing forgiveness, of setting aside some silent time each day in prayer, or fasting a little each day, but then you forgot one day, and it seemed like, “Wow, I’ve already fallen short, only two days in, so what’s the point?” So you just went back to same-old, same-old. I know. I’ve been there.
If so, don’t be discouraged! Don’t be afraid! God loves it when we pick ourselves up, and with humility and great trust in his mercy (namely, that God both has the power to heal me and transform me and also that he loves to do this!), we go to him and ask for that mercy. The goal of Lent is to get to Easter knowing and loving God (and by definition others too) a little more, of being, in a word, a better friend with Jesus. He meets us where we are at, and if we don’t give up getting up, he will fulfill his promises.
With this in mind, I would not only encourage us to keep persevering during this powerful season, but I would ask for your special prayers this week for our parish staff. On Wednesday, March 4th, our entire staff will be on retreat for the day. We will be praying for all of you and we will also be drawing close to God and asking for our own deeper conversion and renewal, knowing that the more we are following Jesus, the better we can do our daily work, which in the end is all about Proclaiming the Gospel of the Lord in our words and deeds, and helping every parishioner do the same.
Please pray that God will work mighty in our midst and we will have the faith and courage to entrust our lives more deeply to his wonderful will for us. May our Patroness and Patron, our Blessed Mother and the foster father of Jesus, intercede for us.
May God bless you and your family abundantly this week.
Fr. Jonathan