Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: March 03, 2019
Carnival season ends with Mardi Gras. While I suspect that a few revelers here and there get carried away and keep partying after midnight on Fat Tuesday, with Ash Wednesday a much more somber – and sober! – season begins. In a way I like the abrupt shift from merriment to mortification as Lent begins, since it helps underscore the seriousness of our need for penitence.
I really do recommend that you try to emphasize the “difference” of the Lenten season and make adjustments in your daily routine. If your daily schedule stays completely the same that hardly indicates the seriousness of the season. You need extra time for extra prayer: this might mean getting up earlier each day, or squeezing in daily Mass a few times a week. While more fasting and almsgiving shouldn’t add many items to your daily agenda, your day will be affected. The nagging hunger of your empty stomach and the more sharp twinge of pain when you sign that extra check for church or charity will both remind you of the seriousness of your commitment to Christ Jesus.
For many of us Lent also means additional, specific penances and other mortifications. Remember, for this to be a good thing it has to be something that “hits home,” so take this seriously. Give up something you love, not just something you can do without. Try to act in ways that make you feel the pain of those whose lives are really miserable, so that you become more sympathetic to what they go through. It’s what the Lord did for us, after all.
A good Lent is a quiet Lent. No, I’m not just talking about the absence of sung alleluias in church, although we do try to provide a more quiet and subdued atmosphere at our Lenten Masses. We should deliberately “slow down” and in this purposeful stillness listen to the Lord. He will likely prompt our hearts to realize how un-loving we have been and how we should remedy that situation in confession. He will possibly nudge us away from our comfort zones – admit it, we all have more than one! – by helping us realize that He prefers gentle but active kindness and works of mercy over verbal statements of faith and protestations of orthodoxy.
So after partying hard beforehand, come to the Cathedral at 7:30 am, 12 noon or 5 pm for Mass on Ash Wednesday, March 6, this week. Be marked with ashes, an outward sign of an inward resolve to improve both your self and our world by a better Lent than ever before. You will not be alone in that quest: the entire Christian community of Catholics and many others are joining you in this noble enterprise.
But don’t forget that Lent does occasionally get interrupted by smiles. In just a few weeks, for instance, the Feast of St. Joseph, our patron saint, occurs on Tuesday, March 19! So plan to come to the special 12 noon Mass that day and then visit our St. Joseph’s Altar and enjoy the free meal for everybody in the Hall afterwards!
Yours in Christ,
Very Rev Paul D. Counce
