Bishop's Letters | Pastoral Letter Lent 1996

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

As we begin again the holy season of Lent, when we imitate the prayer and fasting of our Lord Jesus Christ, I wish to emphasize one thing especially. LENT IS REAL. We respond so well to Lent, I believe, because Lent corresponds so well to our lives.

Lent calls on us to sacrifice: by additional prayer, by self denial andpenance, by exceptional acts of charity. But for most of us sacrifice is not something new. We meet it in our daily lives: in the death of loved ones, in illness, in disappointed dreams and hopes, at work or at school.

Sacrifice, too, is an essential part of our faith, both as we believe it and as we live it. We believe that our Lord suffered in His passion and freely offered the sacrifice of His life on the cross. We believe that the Mass is a Eucharistic meal instituted on Holy Thursday at the Last Supper in which we are fed the true Body and Blood of Christ, but we also believe that the Mass is a sacrifice, a representation of the sacrifice of our Lord on the cross, a time when we offer our sacrifices to God along with the sacrifice of our Saviour.

Daily living today lays great emphasis on keeping in shape: eat right, exercise, take time for some recreation, don t get stressed out. The holistic approach. Lent too lays great emphasis on keeping in shape, and reminds us that the holistic approach involves necessarily, not only the body and the mind, but also the soul. Keep the soul in shape. Pray more regularly, receive the spiritual food of Christ s Body and Blood more often at Mass, get to confession, determine that the end of Lent will find you at least a little better person than you now already are.

A very popular concern in our day is the environment. We hear cautions about global warming and too much ultra violet light. We want pure air, clean water, green lands. Lent says, that s great. But what about the ethical environment? What about the moral smog so prevalent in the social atmosphere in which we exist? Do I still recognize right from wrong, or have I been overpowered by the common attitudes of the age in which I live? Do I still stand for life from conception to natural death, or have abortion and euthanasia gained my favour? Do I still believe in marriage as a good thing, institutes by God, whose permanence and exclusivity benefits all society? Do I still accept the importance of the family as the most basic unit of society? Do I still believe in the beatitudes, including, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven?" Have I bought into the mentality which says that the poor are all a lot of welfare losers, and the best way to make the rich richer is on the backs of the poor? This was not Christ s attitude! It cannot be ours! The moral environment in which we live is as important for the survival of society as is the physical milieu. In Lent let each of us emphasize this importance!

Lent calls us to be the best Catholics, the best followers of our Lord that we can be. It asks for prayer, penance and alms-giving. Lent requires sacrifice, but like daily life it is not without hope. Lent leads not just to the cross of Good Friday, but beyond the cross to the glory of the Resurrection at Easter. Lent gives us a hope that is real. The sacrifices of our personal Lent this year will strengthen our hope, making us more able to face the crosses of daily living, and keep us in the full hope of sharing the joy of Christ's eternal Resurrection.

May God bless you.