More thoughts on Lent

 

We enter once again into the holy and grace-filled season of Lent. The Church, in her wisdom, gives us three clear practices every year: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. During Lent, we are meant to take on these concrete disciplines so that our hearts can be drawn more deeply to the Lord. Watch here.

Let me offer three very specific recommendations this year.

First, prayer.

Lent is the privileged time to renew our friendship with the Lord. Can I urge you this year to set aside some quiet time every day—five minutes, ten minutes, whatever you can manage—to sit with God? Speak to him honestly, listen in the silence, meditate on Scripture. If you need a bit of structure, follow the daily Lenten reflections from Word on Fire or any other good Catholic apostolate offering a daily spiritual program. The key is intentionality: Carve out that space to let the Lord speak to your heart.

Second, fasting.

Of course, follow the Church’s norms on abstaining from meat and limiting food intake. But I’d also challenge you to fast from some of the habits that occupy too much of your attention—maybe it’s scrolling through social media on your phone, binge-watching television, or playing video games. You don’t have to necessarily eliminate them entirely, but cut them back significantly. Why? Because when we quiet these distractions, we make room for more prayerful reflection, and we allow a deeper hunger for God to rise within us.

Third, almsgiving.

This is the practice of giving: giving money, giving time, giving attention. Be intentional about generosity this Lent by performing one concrete act of mercy each week. Donate to a charity or a nonprofit ministry. Give to the poor. Volunteer at a soup kitchen. Visit someone who is sick or lonely. Whatever you do, give alms. Almsgiving expresses that great spiritual truth: Our souls expand in the measure that we give ourselves away.

May I humbly suggest that one way you might direct your almsgiving is toward Word on Fire? Your contribution will help us to continue to evangelize the culture with free content that reaches millions of people.

So, this Lent: Pray in a focused and quiet way, fast from the things that clutter your heart and mind, and give in a spirit of sincere generosity. If we take up these disciplines, Lent won’t become a burden. It will become a season of renewal, clarity, and deep joy. May God bless you with a transformative and fruitful Lent. In Christ,

Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on Lent

After fasting for forty days and conquering every temptation that came His way, Jesus returned to Galilee and began His public ministry with these words,  “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

Indeed, now is the hour of fulfillment. 

We are called by Christ and Our Lady of Fatima this Ash Wednesday to once again acknowledge our sinfulness, so that through God’s grace and mercy we may be purified and share in Christ’s victory.

Each Lent we are invited to join in the Lord’s time of fasting for forty days. 

As Jesus warned in the parable of the sower, cares of the world and a delight in riches and earthly things threatens to choke out our spiritual life like thorns engulfing a bush (Mk. 4:18). 

By generously giving to others and by offering up the pains of fasting and mortification this Lent, the Lord purifies our hearts from earthly attachment and these pains are instead joined to His sacrifice as an offering of love for the salvation of souls.

Yet, fasting and almsgiving are challenging, and at the beginning of Lent, such trials can be daunting. 

Spiritual exercises make clear the spiritual combat which is always present. 

As the Enemy vainly tried to through and during this time of fasting, so will that same Enemy try to lead us to discouragement and to abandon the resolutions we take on this Lent.

The good news is that we need not be afraid to face this battle! 

Instead, let us take refuge in the Immaculate Heart of Mary and follow the example of our Savior. 

Each time the devil tempted Christ, the Lord responded by dispelling the attack with the power and truth of Scripture. 

So while we fast, we must also pray!

When we pray the Rosary and reflect upon the lives of Jesus and Mary, we are given the wisdom and strength we need to see past any sinful illusions and to overcome the temptations we might face this Lent.

Therefore, through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, let us hear the call of Christ, echoed by Our Lady of Fatima. 

Let us repent and believe in the Gospel!

In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,

Christopher P. Wendt
International Director
Confraternity of Our Lady of Fatima

Thoughts on Ash Wednesday

 

Ash Wednesday

In the Gospel for Ash Wednesday, we hear Jesus remind us three times that our hidden acts are neither unseen nor unrewarded. No, “your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.” Taking up our daily cross (see Luke 9:23) is the most important penance we can offer—the daily cross of our state of life, such as: going to sometimes unsatisfying work for your family; helping your children for the umpteenth time with patient love and a smile even when tired or upset; as a Religious or Priest, rising early once again, to offer praise to God and to intercede for the many needs we learn of, and working to alleviate them; and at the eve of life, being patient with the infirmities and limitations as they increase—and offering them with prayer for others. “And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”   Those hidden acts of self-sacrifice are neither unseen nor unrewarded. In fact, they are proofs of genuine love. We deepen our conversion through the often-unchosen penances of daily life.   Grumbling makes our burdens un-bearable. Love, however, is healing and lightens the load: loving God in prayer; loving others in self-giving generosity; and loving ourselves in fasting, which quiets the demands of our untamed nature.    Lord God, help us as we begin this Holy Season to take up our daily cross with love, so that our conversion to You may ever deepen. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.   In His healing wounds,   Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe, MFVA

Thoughts on gratitude

 

A Spirit of Gratitude

From: Lifesigns: Intimacy, Fecundity, and Ecstasy in Christian Perspective

Life loses its dynamism and exuberance when everything that happens to us is viewed as a predictable result of predictable actions….. Without a spirit of gratitude, life flattens out and becomes dull and boring. But when we continue to be surprised by new manifestations of life and continue to praise and thank God and our neighbor, routine and boredom cannot take hold. Then all of life becomes a reason for saying thanks.

Reflection Question: What would change if I approached even ordinary moments as reasons for thanksgiving?

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”   - 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18

Thoughts on Saint Valentine

 

As many people in the secular world reduce this day to simply an exaltation of romance, in the traditional Latin calendar we remember a man who shows us the path of true love, the priest and martyr, St. Valentine. Our Lady of Fatima warned us that the Church would suffer a time of great trial, and many would lose sight of the good of chastity and purity. The nature and purpose of love, of marriage, and of the family have become deeply misunderstood or outright rejected across the world and such chaos has brought great harm to millions of souls.

So while it is undeniably honorable to have a day dedicated to love, it is imperative that such a dedication is guided by a true and profound understanding of love’s nature. So on this day which so many use to justify all kinds of licentiousness, let us turn back to the origin of this celebration and reflect upon the life of St. Valentine. St. Valentine was a priest during the third century. While little is known about him, what is certain is that he served the Lord devoutly, so much so that he took a vow of celibacy and was ready to lay his life down for our King. In a society obsessed with feelings of romance, such acts of love seem utterly foolish. Yet, St. Valentine understood that love is not simply a pleasurable feeling, nor is about what the individual can get out of a relationship. Love is about recognizing the good in the other and willing that person’s good, even if it means your own harm. It is not concerned about “me”, but about “you." It is not concerned about what feels good, but what it is good. Thus, when we see that God is good and the source of all that is good, we are ready to lay down our senses, our desires, our very lives and all that we are for Him, as He has done for us. This is the love which is above every other virtue. This is the love Our Lady of Fatima has for us and which She calls us to. This is the love which draws a man and woman so closely together that through God’s grace they become a family and start a family. This is the love we must celebrate and live out this day! In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Christopher P. Wendt International Director Confraternity of Our Lady of Fatima

Thoughts on relationships

 In Sunday’s Gospel Jesus speaks about his mission on earth, indicating that he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Jesus does not overturn the Mosaic law; rather, he gives it a new interpretation, one that is even more demanding than the one given the law by Jewish leaders. To truly keep the law, one must go beyond it. With that in mind, Jesus speaks to his disciples about the little things that can erode their relationship with God and others and escalate into major offenses.  

By instructing his disciples to watch out for the little transgressions, Jesus did not intend to frighten his followers into obeying a God whom they might falsely imagine was lying in wait to punish them for every small inadequacy or transgression. Instead, he alerts his followers that little slights, left unchecked, can lead to major offenses with dire consequences. By the same token, great love and greatness in God’s reign begin with little acts of love toward the least brother or sister.

On February 18th we begin Lent, and there will be many good ways to make it special. Some ways are about giving things up, some are about taking things on. For me, it’s a prime time to examine before God all of my relationships: to God, to things (food, entertainment, work, TV, internet, etc.), to myself, and to other people (family, friends, fellow workers, neighbors, as well as the poor, be they known or unknown). How Christian are those relationships? Do they lead me to greater health and holiness, greater peace, greater generosity? And, in regard to my relationships to other human beings, how LOVING are those relationships? Because love is something other than liking or desiring or getting along. As a follower of Christ, in my relationships, do I act (or at least want to act) as light and as salt? Do I respect the goodness and beauty in everyone else?  

Fr. Frank Reale, S.J.

Thoughts on original sin

 

Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Mark 7:14–23

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches that evil comes from within. From our hearts “come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.”  The Church teaches that such evils are consequences of original sin. The doctrine holds that there is something fundamentally off about us, that all is not well, that we are off-kilter, skewed, mixed up. We Catholics don’t hold to a doctrine of total depravity, but we do indeed hold that original sin has worked its way into every nook and cranny of our lives: our minds, our wills, our desires and passions, even our very bodies. As G. K. Chesterton argued a century ago, original sin is the only doctrine for which there is empirical evidence, for we can feel it within ourselves and we can see the effects of it everywhere. One of the surest signs of our dysfunction is that we tend to celebrate all of the wrong people and despise or look down upon the best people. Pay very close attention to the people that you don’t like, to those that you consider obnoxious; it might tell you a lot about your own spiritual state. Bishop Robert Barron