By Fr. Pins
Lent
As we approach Lent this Wednesday, please prayerful consider and discern what God is calling on you to grow in your faith life. Jesus tells us to repent and believe in the gospel. Make this lent a time of growth in our faith and relationship in the Father. We are like the prodigal son coming back to the Father who runs towards us and embraces us with love and mercy.
Do you want to grow in prayer this lent? We are doing the 1% challenge again this year. Please commit 1% of your day to mental prayer. About 15 minutes make up about 1% of our 24-hour day. Take those 15 minutes to read a small scripture passage and sit silently to listen to how God is speaking to you with that passage. The first important part of this prayer is the silence. This is not a memorized prayer but a prayer of silence. To read a couple of lines of scripture and let God speak to you.
Another part of this challenge this year is to use the Hallow App to listen to Fr. Timothy Gallagher in his instruction on Ignatian spirituality. Fr. Gallagher will help you to understand the meditation of scripture and give some tips on how to sit in silence. St. Ignatius of Loyola made this prayer type famous and taught people to listen to God. I personally use this type of prayer every day. This type of prayer is known to help the faithful grow in the relationship with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Please take time to grow this Lent.
Lent is always a great time to go to confession and repent of our sins. Please remember that this is not just sharing a list of sins with a priest. This is going to Our Father to ask for forgiveness. Just like we go to our spouse, family and friends to ask forgiveness when we mess up, we need to go to Our Father and ask for forgiveness. Take some time this lent to consider how often you should go to Our Father to ask for forgiveness. Please join us on Saturday mornings or Wednesdays during the lunch hour or before weekend Masses to go to Our Father and ask for His Mercy.
Lent is also a time to learn about the prayer of fasting. We fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, but we can fast on other days to help with our prayer life. Fasting is sharing in the suffering of Christ as He prays for His bride the church. When we have a specific prayer intention, we can use fasting a part of our prayer. Try it out this lent.
However you spend your lent, please know that it all leads us to Holy Week. The week where we journey with Jesus with his entrance into Jerusalem, the last supper, his passion and death and the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Lent should be all about celebrating God’s plan to save us from our sins. He dies for us so that we may have eternal life with Him.