It is hard to believe that Ash Wednesday is this upcoming week. I always look forward to Ash Wednesday and the holy season of Lent, probably because it is a time of reflection, renewal, conversion and preparation in our lives, a time that we can use to evaluate our lives of faith and our relationship with God. This year, Deacon John made the wonderful suggestion that we use the theme of FORGIVENESS this Lenten season. This weekend, we are handing out wonderful Lenten reflection books entitled FINDING FORGIVENESS IN LENT. Indeed, forgiveness is one of the hardest things we do as human beings, isn’t it? According to Mother Teresa, "If we really want to love we must learn how to forgive.” Hopefully, we will have a good conversation about forgiveness during Lent this year at St Jude.
I want to encourage all of you to come at one of our Ash Wednesday Masses, which will be at 6:30 am, noon, and 6:00 pm in English and 7:30 pm in Spanish. In addition, we will have the Stations of the Cross each Friday at 6:00 pm during Lent, followed by our famous Knights of Columbus Fish Fry. To me, the Stations of the Cross on Friday, commemorating the day that Jesus died, is such a fitting Catholic tradition during Lent. Our Lenten Reconciliation service this year will be on Monday, March 2 from 5:30 pm and 7;30 pm. Our reconciliation service will be a “come and go” event this year. We will not have a service, but will have handouts for the examination of conscience that you can use in preparation, and then you can go to one of the priests for the sacrament of reconciliation. You may come anytime during that two hour period for the sacrament.
Finally, I want to mention the traditional Lenten disciplines of fasting/sacrifice, prayer, and works of charity. Lent is only fruitful as a time of preparation and renewal based upon the effort we put into it. I want all of us to have a fruitful Lenten season this year. Blessings to you as we end our weeks of Ordinary Time and as we enter the holy season of Lent.
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