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 Spirit
of Lent
Ash Wednesday
signifies the start of Lent. During the Lenten season we should
repent from our sins and do penance. When the priests mark the foreheads
of Christians with ashes this is a reminder that we are created
from dust and to dust we shall return. Lent is a forty-day season
of preparation for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Lent is a time of stripping down to essentials, as each Christian
focuses on his or her individual relationship with God. It is a
time when Christians remember our baptisms, when Jesus washed away
our sins, giving us newness of life to celebrate in the triumph
of Palm Sunday and the glory of Easter for the Holy week festivity.
Then penance came to be associated during this period for common
people as well. And Lent became the way of penance. It is good for
us to undertake acts of penance in sorrow for our sins, our failure
to acknowledge and to love God in Himself, in others, in ourselves.
The traditional forms of penance, fast and abstinence, are to be
observed according to Church law. Not only is penance appropriate
as an expression of sorrow for sin, but it also helps us to be less
attached to the things of this world. Penance helps us to put things
in proper perspective.
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| LIVES
OF THE SAINTS |
May
18
ST. JOHN
I
St. John I was a priest of Rome. He became pope after
the death of Pope St. Hormisdas in 523. At that time, Italy's
ruler, Theodoric the Goth, was an Arian. (The Arians did not
believe that Jesus is God.) Theodoric let Catholics alone
at the beginning of his reign. Later, however, he changed
and became arrogant and suspicious of everyone.
May
19
ST. CELESTINE V
Peter di Morone was the eleventh of twelve children.
He was born around 1210 in Isernia, Italy. His father died
when he was small. The family was poor, but Peter's mother
raised her children with great love.
May
20
ST. BERNARDINE OF SIENA
St. Bernardine of Siena was born in 1380 in a town
near Siena, Italy. He was the son of an Italian governor.
His parents died when he was seven.
May
21
BLESSED
EUGENE DE MAZENOD
Blessed Eugene was born in France in 1782. He became
a priest in 1811. Father Eugene was sensitive to the needs
of the poor and he ministered to them.
May
22
ST. RITA OF CASCIA
St. Rita was born in 1381 in a little Italian village.
Her parents were older. They had begged God to send them a
child. They brought Rita up well. Rita wanted to enter the
convent when she was fifteen, but her parents decided that
she should marry instead.
May
23
ST. JOHN
BAPTIST ROSSI
St. John Baptist Rossi was born in 1698 in a village
near Genoa, Italy. His family loved him. They were proud when
a wealthy couple visiting their town offered to educate him.
His parents knew the couple and trusted them. John was happy
to be able to go to their house in Genoa because then he could
attend school.
May
24
ST. DAVID
I OF SCOTLAND
St. David was born in 1080. He was the youngest son of St.
Margaret, queen of Scotland, and her good husband, King Malcom.
David himself became king when he was about forty.
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PHOTO OF THE MONTH |
Tour
of the Relics of the Passion
(International Center
for Holy Relics)
www.HolyRelics.org
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| REFLECTIONS |
 “Jesus’
Baptism”
Why did Jesus, the sinless one sent from the Father in heaven,
submit himself to John’s baptism? John preached a
baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke
3:3). In this humble submission we see a foreshadowing of
the “baptism” of Jesus bloody death upon the
cross. Jesus’ baptism is the acceptance and the beginning
of his mission as God’s suffering Servant (Isaiah
52:13-15; 53:1-12). He allowed himself to be numbered among
sinners. Jesus submitted himself entirely to his Father’s
will. Out of love he consented to this baptism of death
for the remission of our sins. Do you know the joy of trust
and submission to God?
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