Last weekend I shared with you a 16th C. painting with the belongings of a bishop and a knight alongside a skull based on the spiritual concept of memento mori – remember your death. Quotes from the saints remind us that death is a sister, a friend, a teacher calling us to claim our dependence on the One who brought us to life. Most of all, Lent is a time when each of us is challenged to recognize our need for conversion and intentionally examine our relationship with God, ourselves and one another. These 40 Days invite us to fast from those sins, vices, weaknesses, fears – anything that prevents us from making real in thought, word and actions our God-given dignity and destiny. The above painting is from David Cahill with a contemporary focus of memento mori...so do it...even die/fast with our technological ties.
St. Francis de Sales was no stranger to the practice of dying or “giving up” for Lent. He endorsed the practice of fasting, provided that it meets three conditions:
+First, our fasting "should be entire and universal." Our giving up cannot be limited to depriving our mouths of food, drink or other treats. St. Francis insists that, among other things, we should deprive our eyes of things that are "frivolous" and unhealthy; we must deny our ears of "vain" talk or gossip; we should deny our tongue words that slander, accuse or injure; we should give up "useless thoughts, vain memories and all the superfluous appetites and desires" of our will.
+Second, our fasting should not be done for the eyes of others. Rather, our “giving up” is meant to be scrutinized by God alone.
+Third, all of our actions, including our fasting, serve only “to please God alone, to whom all honor and glory belong.”
Let God turn things right-side up again in your life...give Him everything. May the creating, redeeming, and saving Father be made manifest in your lives this Lent. May the Paschal Mystery of the Father’s son, Jesus, animate your daily living, your daily dying, and your daily rising to new life. May we feel the breath of their love as their Spirit leads us into Lent to make ready for us the Paschal time of Easter. Memento, Fr. Bline Many thanks for the team who put together our school’s Night of Giving, which raised over $60,000 for the development of our curriculum programming, classroom needs, and the Carter Andes endowment. Thank you Julie Magaw, Susie Wallace, Renee Fraleigh, Jamie Smeiles, John Hardesty, Dan Reynolds, Therese Holderbaum, Miss Buzzelli and the donors.
ALSO COME TO LENTEN SUNDAY NIGHT PRAYER with Eucharistic Adoration at 9:00-9:14 p.m!
