Dear Parishioners,

      Just as they say “it’s never too early to start saving” it can also be said that “it’s never too early to start preparing for Lent!” Well, this weekend we are officially only one month away from Ash Wednesday, so now is as good a time as ever to start getting ready.  Lent is such an important and helpful time for us as Catholics because it is geared towards helping us to love.

      Wait a minute, you might think, isn’t Lent about fish fries? Who doesn’t love fish fries? I’ve heard we have the two best fish fries around, but great as they are, you might seriously be thinking, isn’t Lent really about preparing for Easter? Or isn’t it really about giving something up?

      Well, in some way it is about all of those things, but ultimately it is about us learning to love. Because of concupiscence and our fallen nature, it is quite easy for us to love ourselves above all else, to make of ourselves a god. Of course we call that sin and sin leads to death. The path out of sin and death is the path of love, the path to Love Himself and in Lent we try to focus our hearts on Jesus Who wants to raise us out of sin and death into new life with Him. The disciplines of Lent are meant to help us cooperate with Christ’s grace leading us to Love.

      Fasting has unfortunately fallen out of fashion in the Church in the West, and often when we do it inLent it is seen more as a challenge to accomplish rather than a spiritual practice to discipline and train our souls.  As a child I was always so proud of myself if I accomplished giving up eating candy for Lent. It was certainly a child’s way of seeing, but this way of looking at fasting for adults has little spiritual benefit (though it might help us lose a few pounds).

      Fasting is about training our will. If we can train our will to say “no” to something good, it will be strengthened to say “no” to something sinful. Therefore, fasting teaches us to turn our heart away from ourselves so that we can turn to others, which we see clearly in the other two disciplines. With our hearts detached from self we can then give them to our neighbor in the practice of almsgiving. Whether it be giving money or goods or service, almsgiving becomes our act of Christlike love.

      Prayer, of course is our act of love towards God. In prayer our hearts that were once turned inward on self, are now turned in love toward God.

      As we approach the season of Lent, we have one month to start to look at our lives and determine where we are being called to love more. Where do I need to grow in love of neighbor? Where in my life do I need to grow in love of God? With that in mind we can then choose something from which to abstain during Lent that will train our souls to love.

Have a great week!

Fr. Jim Theby