First Sunday of Lent, 2/21

Dear Friends,

With Ash Wednesday have officially begun the Lenten season. Forty days of grace. A beautiful time for conversion. The number forty comes several times in the bible: Noah and the forty days of flood; The people of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty days; Jonah preached to Nineveh for forty days, etc. And now we find Jesus in the desert for forty days.

The number forty signifies preparation – to the fulfillment of God’s promises. It is a time to prepare ourselves to encounter God, to encounter the great joy of Easter. God is a loving Father who educates and prepares his children to receive his gift – a gift of life which Adam and Eve once lost. In the desert, alone, Jesus is intimately united with the Father and thus, surpassing the Satan’s temptations. These temptations are not unfamiliar to us. But it is during this time of Lent that we can ask ourselves, “what place does God have in my life? Is he the Lord or am I?” In our spiritual journey, as we enter the desert in prayer, fasting, and acts of charity, let us put ourselves beside Jesus. Let us remember that our strength is found in God, “for when I am weak, then, I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10). In her Diaries, Etty Hillesum, a young Jewish woman who died in Auschwitz, wrote: “There is a really deep well inside me. And in it dwells God. Sometimes I am there, too. But more often stones and grit block the well, and God is buried beneath. Then he must be dug out again.” Sometimes, when we begin Lent, we discover that in that deep well in our heart full of yearnings and dreams, God must be dug out because we forget him. Now is a time to look at God hear him say, “Come back to me” (cf. Hosea 14:2-3).

With Mary, our dearest Mother, let us renew our commitment to the journey of our conversion. Let us also ask in a special way the intercession of St. Joseph. God bless you all!