Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, As I wrote last week, Lent is a season that reorients us spiritually, toward the Lord. Accepting ashes on our heads, we received the command “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” The disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, in whatever form we have chosen to observe them this year, help us learn how to turn to God more completely. I wrote also about the “eastern” direction of prayer, that is, that Christian prayer is ad orientem – to the east – and how this orientation in both a physical and symbolic way serves to…read more

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, As we received ashes this week, we heard those powerful, essential words “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” To repent means to turn our backs on sin, to turn our whole spiritual orientation away from sinful ideas, actions, and attitudes, to return to the right path. To turn away from sin is not a neutral act. It demands a turning toward something, namely a turning toward God. Lent, then, is a time to re-orient our lives so that the focus of our attention, thoughts, and actions can be on the Lord. Our orientation facing…read more

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, This Wednesday, the Church begins the great penitential season of Lent. For forty days, we will fast and pray, entering into the desert with Jesus. Just as our Lord, impelled by the Holy Spirit, went out into the wilderness in preparation for His public ministry, so too we go into this annual time with an eye toward the saving Passion and Death of our Savior. Our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are disciplines that help us to stay focused, that train us for the greater challenges we face, and that help us to be more…read more

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, We are just a few weeks away from the start of the Lenten season. Ash Wednesday is February 17, and then we will begin our 40 day period of fasting and penance in preparation for the celebration of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection. In the meantime, we find ourselves coming down, in a way, from the high celebrations of Christmas. The holidays are in the past and the time we are living can seem very ordinary. Add to that the fact that the liturgical season is called “ordinary” (though no…read more