Welcome to Lent 2011. We will have plenty of Masses, plenty of ashes, and plenty of people this Ash Wednesday (Masses: 7, 8, 9:30, 12:15 [Latin], 5:45, and two Masses at 7:30 [English in the church and Spanish in the hall]). Some people tell me these forty days are their favorite time of the year, and others dread the prospect of fasting and abstinence. It is best to enter Lent with a joyful, positive approach. The word “Lent” comes from the Old English word for Spring, and how can we not want to tidy up our lives as the warm weather begins to return and more sunshine pours into our days? Yes, Lent is Spring Cleaning. “Cleaning the House”—our little Temples of the Holy Spirit—for Easter Sunday takes planning and lots of elbow grease, but brings great rewards even while we work at it. We’ve got a delicious forty days ahead of us, which often seems too short as we go through Lent. In the old Latin Mass calendar, the Church gave three “pre- Lenten” weeks to even prepare for Ash Wednesday. Still, forty days should be enough, if we apply ourselves. Make your plan today, before Ash Wednesday. Here are some suggestions, based on the three Biblical ways of drawing closer to God.
1. Prayer: we cannot pray “too much.” Daily Mass, Stations of the Cross, Eucharistic adoration, the rosary, Arise prayer groups, our Lenten Mission, etc., are all ways to pray more and to pray better.
2. Fasting: we all eat too much. Give some of it up. Give us desserts, or snacks, or meat, or soft-drinks, or alcohol, or coffee, or second helpings, or bread. Anything that keeps us a little hungry for a while will do. We want to develop a real hunger for God by means of our hunger for food and drink (losing weight comes with the bargain).
3. Almsgiving: very few Catholics seriously tithe. Now is the time to make some greater progress. Tithing is essentially about trusting God. Try Him. He will not disappoint you. Work towards that full 10% of gross income. The Bishop’s Ministry Appeal is a good place to start. Other worthy charities are boundless, such as St. Vincent de Paul, Interfaith Ministries, the Modesto Pregnancy Center, etc.