Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: February 16, 2020
As I sit down to compose this article for The Carpenter, my computer has reminded me of a pretty amazing fact. This is the 500th column I’ve written for the Parish bulletin since I became your pastor in July of 2009!
It sure doesn’t seem like that many! Time has gone by too quickly! I hope my written musings have occasionally given you something to think about in more depth. I know I spend a lot of time and words giving thanks for past events and the generous help of others, and announcing upcoming things on the calendar. I’ve repeated myself a lot, too, since I know I have some particular things that are favorite subjects of mine. I hope you haven’t gotten tired of me yet!
Now on to other topics! Just like this weekend, next Saturday, February 22, our 4 pm Saturday Vigil Mass here at the Cathedral is cancelled. This is an annual thing: the crowds for the annual Spanish Town parade are too noisy and messy outside to permit good liturgy inside – even if you could park close enough to the Cathedral to get here. Come instead to bid farewell to the word “Alelluia” at one of our Sunday Masses at 8:30 or 10:30 am!
Because we don’t say or sing that uber-joyous word in Lent, which begins this year on Ash Wednesday, February 26. Mass will be at 7:30 am, 12 noon, and 5 pm that day, with ashes distributed at them all. Purple vestments and more stark music set a sober, even somber tone. Our décor will be much more simple: the barest of sanctuaries and no flowers until Laetare Sunday. All this is to heighten our focus on what really matters, such as the fact that we are sinners and in desperate need of God’s mercy.
Remember, God wants to forgive us. This is possible if we repent of our sins. (God can’t forgive us if we don’t let Him forgive us, since He can’t act to take away our free will, but that’s a topic for another day!)
Traditionally human beings express repentance by self-denial, by giving up ease and comfort, even by purposeful humiliation: think of the king and people of ancient Nineveh putting on sackcloth and ashes to show their sorrow for their sins (Jonah 3:4-10). Lent for Catholics and many other Christians is the “season of self-denial.”
Some of the Church’s penances are very conventional: Ash Wednesday and all Fridays of Lent, including Good Friday, are days of strict abstinence from meat. Also, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fast: so little food that we’re consciously hungry throughout the day. Some penance is just recommended, although very good: more prayer – such as daily Mass, rosary or Bible reading – and increased financial charity. But most penance is personal: the Church is not going to mandate you “give up” computer-time, or eat just a soup or salad for lunch, or “give up” alcohol, or make a weekly telephone-call to a relative you rarely see, or commit to more reading or crafts, etc., etc., etc. But all of us know we can waste less time in Lent, and that’s always a good thing.
So: decide! Don’t wait until Ash Wednesday to make your Lenten plans. Jesus suffered and died for you – the least you can do in response is inconvenience yourself for Him!
In His Holy Name,
Very Rev. Paul D. Counce
