Lent Begins

Reflections
Archbishop
A Publication of the Secretariat for Communications
Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend
Noll Catholic Center 915 S. Clinton St. Fort Wayne, IN 46802
VOLUME 319
February 2015
The TV Mass
streams live at
www.diocesefwsb.org
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Lent
Begins
Ash Wednesday
is February 18
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Ash Wednesday:
Time for a
spring cleaning
By Father Tommy Lane
T
he word “Lent” comes from
an old English word which
means “springtime” so it
reminds us of spring cleaning
and the new life in nature during spring. This season of Lent is
a time of special grace for us in
which we want to do some spring
cleaning in our lives and enjoy new
life as a result. Therefore we have
come here today to acknowledge
that we are sinners. We want to
clean up our lives during Lent.
We want to leave sin behind and
grow closer to the Lord. We want a
change of heart this Lent.
The words of the Lord
through the prophet Joel in our
first reading are words that have
special significance for us today as
we begin this season of Lent and
are words that we can easily see the
Lord speaking to us personally,
“Yet 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.
For gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.”
(Joel 2:12-13)
The words of Paul in our second reading to the Corinthians
are also very relevant for us as we
begin this season of Lent,
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We implore you on behalf of
Christ, be reconciled to God. For
our sake he made him to be sin
who did not know sin, so that we
might become the righteousness of
God in him. (2 Cor 5:20-21)
In the Scriptures when people
left sin behind and turned over a
new leaf they used ashes to symbolize their repentance. Job said,
“I disown what I have said, and
repent in dust and ashes.” (Job
42:6) Daniel “turned to the Lord
God, pleading in earnest prayer,
with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.”
(Dan 9:3) Jesus said, “Woe to you,
Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty deeds done in
your midst had been done in Tyre
and Sidon, they would long ago
have repented, sitting in sackcloth
and ashes.” (Matt 11:21; Luke
10:13). Therefore in a spirit of
repentance we will take take ashes
on our foreheads.
Sometimes people ask, “What
are you doing for Lent?” There is
one thing to give up during Lent –
sin. This season of Lent is a preparation for renewing our baptismal
promises during the Easter Vigil
on Holy Saturday night. Paul says,
when writing to the Romans (6:36), that when we were baptized we
died to our old way of life to live a
new way of life i.e. when we were
baptized we died to our old sinful
ways, we left sin behind. Therefore
Paul says that when we were baptized we went into the tomb with
Jesus and rose out of the tomb
again with Jesus to a new life. The
season of Lent is to give us time
once again to die to our old sinful ways and rise out of the tomb
with Jesus to a new way of life so
that by the Easter Vigil on Holy
Saturday night when we renew our
baptismal vows we will also have
renewed our lives. That is why the
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First Preface of Lent says,
Each year you give
us this joyful season when
we prepare to celebrate
the paschal mystery with
mind and heart renewed.
In our second
reading Paul wrote to
the Corinthians not
to receive the grace of
God in vain (2 Cor 6:1).
During Lent this year
let us too not receive the
grace of God in vain.
To show that we are
serious about overcoming sin we do penance.
Our penance during Lent
as well as being a small
attempt at reparation for
our sins is a symbol of
the change of heart we
want to achieve. In the
Gospel today (Matt 6:1-6,
16-18) Jesus spoke about
prayer, fasting and giving alms. Since the early
centuries these are three
practices the Church has
encouraged us to underthe Bible and reading
take during Lent as a
spiritual books are also a
form of penance: praying great help.
more, fasting and giving
I wish you a holy
alms to the poor.
season of Lent, a joyful
• We fast today and
season of Lent, a time in
on Good Friday and
which you grow closer
abstain from meat on
to the Lord and leave sin
the Fridays of Lent. In a
behind. The Lord comes
spirit of repentance we
to us with a different
have always fasted from
grace in each season.
one of our favorite foods May the grace God gives
for the entire season of
us during this season
Lent e.g. candy. It is a
of Lent not be in vain. I
way of showing that we
conclude with the openlove the Lord more than
ing prayer of Mass,
food and that we love the
Lord more than sin.
Lord,
• There are many
protect us in our
ways of giving alms. In
struggle against evil.
helping other people we
As we begin the
also love the Lord.
discipline of Lent,
• I hope Lent may
make this season
also be for you a time
holy by our self-denial.
of growing closer to the
Lord by spending more
time in prayer. This
would also be a good
time to renew praying the For more from Father
Tom visit www.frtomRosary daily if you have
mylane.com.
been neglectful. Reading
TV Masses for February
2015
Feast Day
Fort Wayne 10:30 a.m.
WFFT-TV, Ch. 55
South Bend 10:30 a.m.
WNDU-TV, Ch. 16
Feb. 1
Fourth Sunday
In
Ordinary
Readings for
February
Father Robert D’Souza
St. Jude
Fort Wayne
Father Daryl Rybicki
Corpus Christi
South Bend
Feb. 8
Fifth Sunday
in
Ordinary Time
Father Jacob Meyer
St. Charles Borromeo
Fort Wayne
Father Neil Wack, CSC
Christ the King
South Bend
Feb. 15
Sixth Sunday
in
Ordinary Time
Father Mark Enemali
St. John the Baptist
New Haven
Father Christopher Lapp
St. Matthew Cathedral
South Bend
Feb. 22
First Sunday
Of
Lent
Father Joe Gaughan
Most Precious Blood
Fort Wayne
Father David Kashangaki, CSC
St. Hedwig/St. Patrick
South Bend
February 1
Dt 18:15-20 Ps 95:1-2, 6-9
1 Cor 7:32-35 Mk 1:21-28
February 8
Jb 7:1-4, 6-7 Ps 147:1-6
1 Cor 9:16-19,, 22-23 Mk 1:29-39
February 15
Lv 13:1-2, 44-46 Ps 32:1-2, 5, 11
1 Cor 10:31 — 11:1 Mk 1:40-45
February 22
Gn 9:8-15 Ps 25:4-9
1 Pt 3:18-22 Mk 1:12-15
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You can also find additional information at
www.diocesefwsb.org/planned-giving
For a list of parish and school endowments available,
contact the Office of Planned Giving at
(260) 969-9148 in Fort Wayne
(574) 258-6571 in South Bend
or email [email protected].
HOW WILL YOU PASS IT ON?
Faith is a Precious Gift to be Given
1/13/15 11:03 AM
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in your will.
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