Weekly Meditation
Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent in the year of Our Lord 2008. Catholics turn out in large numbers with noticeable eagerness to receive blessed ashes as a public sign of their personal desire to "turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel." Lent offers us the chance to put renewed awareness into our ongoing call to conversion.
Lent calls us to the traditional activities of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving but it is also a time of preparation for Easter when we celebrate the resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ and renew with sincerity our own baptismal promises as the church fully initiates new members at the Easter Vigil.
"Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God."
(Joel 2:12)"We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God...Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain."
(2 Cor. 5:20-6:1)"Each year, Lent offers us a providential opportunity to deepen the meaning and value of our Christian lives, and it stimulates us to rediscover the mercy of God so that we, in turn, become more merciful toward our brothers and sisters."
(Message of His Holiness Benedict XVI for Lent 2008)
Bishop William R. Houck
President Emeritus