Here we go again. Your favorite season is just around the corner. Yes, Lent begins on February 22, Ash Wednesday. One might easily think from all the myth that surrounds the season in the popular mind that it’s all about chocolate, smoking, swearing and liquor (not necessarily in that order). Interesting combination that. Tradition requires that one “give up” one or more of these things to have a productive Lent.
Yes, “giving something up” is the phrase most commonly associated with Lent. While giving up swearing or, say, smoking may improve the environment, yours and the planet’s, giving up chocolate’s just designed to make you suffer.
Now, I don’t want to downplay the redemptive value of suffering but couldn’t we look just briefly at how to have a good Lent while keeping the chocolate? The smoking and the swearing are another thing altogether. Think of all the good intentions you’ve had since the beginning of 2012 that have fallen by the wayside. Pick one, just one, and develop a strategy for realizing it. Practice it. Repeat it. Get good at it.
Lent is a training season, time to brush up on some rusty skill, polish up some talent for sharing, a time for giving, for loving. Really, Lent is about Baptism – a sacrament experienced for many so long ago that it lives now only in photographs and family stories. Baptism is an encounter with the living God. It gives life and welcomes us into the body of Christ. This is so important an event in our spiritual journey that the Church asks us each Easter to renew the promises made for us at our Baptism.
Well, before we launch into the training season on Wednesday the 22nd of February at 5 p.m. with Mass and the distribution of ashes, let’s have one last fling. We’ll get together this Saturday, the 18th, to celebrate Mass at 5 p.m. as usual in Harkness Chapel and then go into the Chapel Library for pizzas and partying to celebrate Mardi Gras.
There will be a Mass every Wednesday during Lent at 5 p.m. in the Chapel, in addition to the Vigil Masses on Saturday evenings at 5. Although you will be going on Spring Break soon after the beginning of Lent, the same schedule will continue upon your return.
If you’re confused about the customs and requirements about Lent see last year’s letter at http://goo.gl/Qkacf.
Keep up on happenings and schedules for events of the Catholic Community here at the college by visiting our website at www.conncatholics.com.
Whatever you do, know that you are always welcome, that you can contact me through the website, by email or at the Chapel (ext. 2452). I’m usually on campus on Wednesdays and Saturdays and would welcome the opportunity to chat with you.
God bless you in these spring-like days and all year long,
Fr. Larry
