Suggestions for Lent … 03-Mar-2019

From the Desk of Father David

Dear Friends in Christ,

             Thank you for all the support you showed Msgr. David Slubecky’s family during the wake and funeral.  They were extremely grateful for the warmth they felt during this difficult time.  Our parish reflected the love of Christ to all those who came.  Msgr Slubecky’s sudden death is a reminder to all of us to live each day to the fullest cherishing our relationship with Jesus, family, friends and faith community.  This is a great thought to keep in mind as we begin Lent this Wednesday. 

Lent is a time to allow God to magnify our life-giving attitudes and uproot all those which are deadly.  The three major keys are prayer, fasting, and alms giving.  True prayer strengthens our relationship with God.  It is through this relationship God enables us to love, forgive, heal and find true peace and joy.  Deepen your prayer life and watch new life sprout.  Don’t forget to pray with your spouse, family, and friends this Lent.  Keep it simple!

Fasting enables us to discipline ourselves and focus on what is truly valuable.  When giving something up for Lent, do it with a purpose to help someone and every time you have a craving for it turn to prayer.  For example, maybe you are giving up sweets.  The purpose is for your spouse to be blessed by God.  Every time you desire a sweet you would pray for your spouse.  Also you could give up different things on different days of the week with different or the same purpose. The money you save could be donated to the poor. 

Alms giving helps us move beyond ourselves to help others, thereby bringing about the Kingdom of God here on earth.  Alms giving is not just money or food.  It includes giving of our time, talent, and abilities.  Part of alms giving could be listening to another person. So many times when someone is speaking our minds are thinking about our response or something else.  This causes so many misunderstandings.  This Lent let us try to really listen to one another with our whole being.

What is your image of God?  Lent reminds us that God so loved the world that He sent His Son so that the world could be saved.  Only when we allow the truth of these words to penetrate our hearts we will run toward Christ.

May the Holy Trinity and all the Saints transform our Lent into an oasis of hope and peace for ourselves and all those we will encounter.  As we follow the passion of Christ may it instill in us hope for the future.

In Christ’s love,

Fr. David