Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. (Lk 4:1-2a) That little verse above is the reason behind the holy Season of Lent. And all I can say is thank God for Lent! I always look forward to Lent. And this year is no exception. Now that Lent is here, I’m happy to create my own little desert of calm by the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. It’s the perfect remedy for the last two weeks of Mardi Gras: noise, feasting and excess. One of the good disciplines of Lent is “giving something up.” When I was in seminary, I remember my rector giving up cigars during Lent. And then one Friday in Lent, I walked by his room and smelled cigar smoke. The next day I … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2023
From the Pastor – February 19, 2023
You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Mt. 5:43-48) “Nobody’s perfect.” It’s a common excuse when we make a mistake. We might like the perfect date, or the perfect sunset, or the perfect evening, but we don’t like applying the word to ourselves because, well, … [Read more...]
From the Pastor – February 12, 2023
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Mt. 5:19) I rarely listen to music around the rectory or in the car, but when I go to my family farm in Alabama, I listen to a lot of country music. It started many years ago when it was the only thing I could pick up on the radio in my beat-up 1980 Suburban. And now I listen to country because it seems to go well with riding around in the woods. Although I generally enjoy the melodies of country songs, what I particularly like are the lyrics. They’re easy to understand in country music, and they usually have some kind of good, wholesome … [Read more...]
Lent and Easter Guidelines
THE LENTEN SEASON A distinction is to be made between Lent and the Easter Triduum. Strictly speaking, Lent ends with the beginning of the Triduum on Holy Thursday. The Ordo notes: “Lent runs from Ash Wednesday until the Mass of the Lord’s Supper exclusive on Holy Thursday”. FASTING AND ABSTINENCE Fasting is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday by all Catholics who are 18 years of age and is observed until their 59th birthday. Those who are bound to fast may take only one full meal. Two smaller meals are permitted if necessary to maintain strength according to each one's needs, but eating solid foods between meals is not permitted. Abstinence from meat is to be observed by all Catholics 14 years or older on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays of Lent. The determination of certain … [Read more...]
St. Valentine
While many people give candy, flowers and cards to each other on February 14, few know the connection between “Valentine's Day” and the Catholic Church. Until the most recent revision of the Roman Calendar in 1969, February 14 was the Feast of St. Valentine. Little is known of the Saint except his name and that he was buried at the Via Flaminia north of Rome on February 14. It is even uncertain whether the feast celebrates only one saint or more saints of the same name. However, "Martyr Valentinus the Presbyter and those with him at Rome" remains in the list of saints proposed for veneration by all Catholics. The Feast of St. Valentine was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among those “... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are … [Read more...]
From the Pastor – February 5, 2023
Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” (Mt. 5:13) I’ve told this story before, but I’m reminded of it whenever I hear this Gospel! When I was in second or third grade, some of my classmates started making fun of me – as children do – by calling me “salty Nalty.” They would repeat it over and over again: “Salty Nalty! Salty Nalty! Salty Nalty,” especially as they realized that it distressed me at that young age. One day I came home from school and told my Mother about it. And she told me: “You just tell them that you are the ‘salt of the earth.’” I'm not sure I'd ever heard that saying before, but it sounded like it came from … [Read more...]
World Day of the Sick on February 11, 2023
In his message for the XXX World Day of the Sick, Pope Francis states: “In the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, the Lord speaks these words that represent one of the high points of God’s Revelation: ‘I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God.. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak […] I will feed them with justice’ (34:15-16). Experiences of bewilderment, sickness, and weakness are part of the human journey. Far from excluding us from God’s people, they bring us to the center of the Lord’s attention, for he is our Father and does not want to lose even one of his children along the way. Let us learn from him, then, how to be a community that truly walks together, … [Read more...]
