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Sixth Sunday of the Year
13 February 2010
Dear Friends in Christ,
Lent begins this week with Ash Wednesday, and each one of us is called by the Lord Jesus to a deeper conversion and more fervent interior life as we prepare to celebrate the Passover of the Lord at Easter. During these 40 Days of fasting, prayer, and works of mercy, we should all be mindful of the promises of our Baptism which we will renew in the great Vigil of Easter and at all the Masses of Easter Sunday. “Are you unaware,” Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome, “that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” (Romans 6:3-4).
To live in newness of life means that we must first die to self to live for Christ, and the disciplines of Lent are meant to help us in the lifelong work of dying to self by living by grace through faith in the Son of God. Here are some of the practical ways that could be done this Lent:
+ come back to church each Sunday of Lent at 4 pm to pray Evening Prayer or Vespers with the parish family. There’s no homily and no collection, just 30 minutes of peaceful, grace-filled prayer.
+ attend adult Sunday School in McGrady Hall each Sunday of Lent from 9.30 to 10.30 am. We’ll be studying St. Paul’s Letters to the Romans and to the Galatians.
+ help feed the hungry with donations to the poor boxes at the doors of the church. All gifts to our poor boxes go to Project Host, the soup kitchen on Academy Street that feeds the hungry in our own neighborhood.
+ go to Confession on a Wednesday afternoon from 5 to 6 pm or a Saturday afternoon from 3.30 to 4.30. On Wednesdays we always have two priests hearing Confessions, so that is the better day for most people, and there is no better preparation for Easter than making a good Confession.
+ make a donation to Catholic Charities of the Upstate by sending a check to Catholic Charities at 204 Douthit Street; Greenville, SC 29601.
+ attend Mass on the weekdays of Lent each Monday through Friday at 7 am.
+ invite a lapsed Catholic to return to the practice of the Faith by joining you at Mass one Sunday of Lent. A gentle invitation is often the only thing needed to bring a soul back to the Lord Jesus.
Remember, man, you are dust, and to dust you will return.
Father Newman