Dear Parishioners,

Lent will be here this Wednesday with the celebration of Ash Wednesday. As we approach Lent, a common question is, “What are you giving up for Lent?” This is a good question and fits well in the spirituality of detachment from anything that distracts you from keeping God first in one’s life. We all have some hang ups or bad habits or a disordered desires, even more serious issues with sin. Ash Wednesday is a sober reminder of where we have come from and where we will return: ashes. Of course, this is the story of our earthy bodies. But in between the beginning and end of our lives, what we do makes all the difference for eternity. So what are you giving up? Think on this. Pray about this. Ask God what you need to remove so that he can become more central in your life. While you are at it, also ask God what you need to add. Sometimes removing dark parts of our lives invites and is re-filled with another darknesses. So, instead of just stop overeating, smoking, swearing, being rude, being divisive, being uncharitable, add something that is directly related in a positive sense. For example, consider exercising, offering life-giving words to others, committing to a prayertime, joining a Lenten faith sharing group, being neighborly to someone around you, trying to see the other side of an issue in order to understand the person holding that issue, working for the common good, attending daily Mass, and more. I hope you get the idea. It’s akin to what some theologians have called, fast and feast, during Lent. Hopefully, these new ways of being will become your new normal going forward, and by doing so, God will become, all the more, central in your life. Have a blessed Lent.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor