Dear Parishioners, the holy Forty Days of Lent begins this Wednesday. Holy because they prepare us for the mystery of mysteries, that of the sacrifice of God on the cross. The mystery is ours; we are the actors in it...We are not mere spectators. We take part in the drama; it is ours and it is our life it decides. 

   As we begin this holy season we need to know where we stand. “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” We recognize our nothingness, that our bodies to whose joys we are attached, is only dust. Our duty during Lent is to prostrate before the mystery, to relive the time when salvation was consummated... 

    Mankind tries to build heaven on earth. We must remember we are creatures and every attempt to act apart from God collapses. Our grandeur and glory is only in God, without him we are a little handful of dust. We ought to recognize that we can do nothing without God, and then we can do everything in him. 

    Ash Wednesday opens onto Lent and Lent leads to the Great Week when Christ died for us. Our Christian life during this time is to know that we are ashes and that our ashes will only live if we let them be filled with God. We cannot make him second place. Lent is to follow Jesus walking towards Calvery; it is to go with him, our eyes fixed on the cross.  

   As we have mentioned, our “Almsgiving” as a parish is going to go towards building wells in Malawi, Africa with a goal of $15,000 to build two borehole wells in rural Malawi. Please see the letter from Fr. Dominic where he emphasizes: Water is Life.