Dear Parishioners,

Lent is already upon us - Ash Wednesday is Feb. 22. Each Lent is the opportunity to come closer to our Lord and grow in our spiritual life. If we are not growing we are dying. I heard once that “If nothing changes, nothing changes.” Let’s make this Lent a special Lent, forty days of growth and grace by putting good spiritual habits and routines in place in our lives. I would like to give you some suggestions to make this Lent a fruitful time and a great preparation for the Easter, the Paschal Mystery.

A good Lent comprises of making an effort in these three areas: Alms Giving, Prayer and Fasting. These correspond with three dimensions of relationships in our lives and heart.

Alms Giving has to do with our neighbor, the obligation of charity towards our brothers and sisters in need. Alms Giving has obviously a material dimension of generosity, but also a dimension of how our heart is with those who have hurt or offended us in any way in our lives, it has a dimension of forgiveness. In order for our hearts to be pure and enter into the Kingdom of Heaven our hearts must be free of any resentment or unforgiveness. Prayer has to do with developing our relationship with God. Personal prayer is so essential to growth in the spiritual life. And, finally, Fasting has to do with self-denial, whereby we deny ourselves of legitimate pleasures so to strengthen our will against sinful and disordered passions and inclinations.

Here are some suggestions to help you grow spiritually for Lent: for Alms Giving, our Parishes will be having a collection during Lent to help girls in Malawi, Africa with tuition to attend Catholic high school. Find out more in next week's bulletin. For Prayer, I recommend 20 minutes a day of dedicated prayer time. Make a time and place for prayer to happen each day. We are making available a Lenten Prayer companion from Magnificat for daily reflection and will also be sending out daily Flocknotes from Dynamic Catholic's "Best Lent Ever" for those that sign up. Additionally, daily mass is available with Adoration on Fridays. and Stations of the Cross are scheduled every Friday of Lent.

At Faith Night on Wednesdays during Lent, I will be offering a special series on the Meaning of the Mass. We will be going through all the parts of the Mass in an effort to reawaken our awe and live of Jesus presence in the Eucharist. Each session will have a study guide with small group discussion, to take place in St. Mary's parish hall following dinner.