Fr. Christopher Gibson, CP:
I find it important to include the spirit of the “Seventh day” in my life. This basically means slowing down to find time to nurture the spirit through contact with the Lord through prayer and spiritual reading, resting, caring for my health, cleaning up around me to make my environment more dignified to live in, get into some hobby, take a walk, etc.
On March 2, the Church celebrates Ash Wednesday.
Most of us learned early in our Catholic lives that Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, and that is a time of special sacrifice in preparation for the Easter celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection.
Dear brothers and sisters, every moment of our lives is a time for believing, hoping and loving…. These words of Pope Francis, taken from his Lenten Message of last year, 2021, and echoing the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, can still inspire our answer to the question: “What am I giving up for Lent?”
We can draw our Lenten sacrifices out of our daily life:
Share our faith in God’s presence by sharing in prayer with our family or with those in our parish community.
Share our hope in God’s promises by encouraging positive and respectful dialogue in our family circle and among our friends.
Share the charity God has bestowed on us in the Passion of Jesus, with those whose sufferings are ignored or aggravated.
Let us pray for one another as we enter the season of Lent. Our Passionist “motto” can be our daily prayer during Lent, “May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts.”
