From the Pastor's Desk

LEnt 2025: AN OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE DIRECTION 

Every year, without exception, the Church provides us with 40 days to look inwardly and to search out the Lord in our lives and within the world. We call this time ‘Lent’. Without much fanfare it arrives. Yes, the day before, “Fat Tuesday” is celebrated like it is the end of something important in our lives. Yes, on Ash Wednesday, we receive ashes on our foreheads as a sign of our nothingness with God, but it’s not a Holy Day of obligation. There is no ‘Gloria,’ music is simple, and the Mass is quite subdued. What this season of Lent does is provide time (40 days and 6 Sundays) to adjust our lives so that Lord is the reason we live and move and have our existence.

This year the Sunday readings are from St Luke’s Gospel. He provides us with a template to holiness by pointing us in the direction of God each week.

On the 1^st Sunday of Lent we have Luke’s account of Jesus’ time in the desert. When Jesus says to Satan, “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.” Jesus is telling us that each day we have the opportunity not to test our God, but to look for his presence in our lives.

On the 2^nd Sunday of Lent, we encounter Luke’s version of the Transfiguration, but in these 40 days of Lent, when Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here”, it’s a reminder that within these 40 days, it’s good to be here so we can recognize the voice of the Lord and move with him rather than against him.

On the 3^rd Sunday of Lent, we hear the parable of the fig tree which was not bearing fruit. It reminds us of the Lord’s patience with us and his desire for us to bear fruit. Our path forward is when we let the nourishment we receive feed us to recognize without him, we wither and die. He is only road to life eternal.

On the 4^th Sunday of Lent, the story of the prodigal son is more about the Father’s joy when we choose the path to holiness which includes him. The 5^th Sunday of Lent, the only Gospel from St John, we hear of the story of the woman caught in adultery. Her path ultimately led to her encounter with Jesus and an opportunity to not only live, but to follow him. Lent is not only that time to encounter Jesus but to live with our Lord. The right path is from sinfulness, to forgiveness to following the Lord.

My prayer for you this Lent is that these 40 days will be a rewarding journey, not simply one where you avoid sin, bear fruit, and return home to the Lord, but that you walk with him daily, which becomes the path of holiness for you.

To help you with this journey, St Joseph has the following opportunities:

·       Ash Wednesday, March 5: Mass at 7:00AM, 9:00AM, 6:00PM and 8:00PM in Spanish

·       Lenten Dinners: March 12, March 19 and April 2 5:00PM

·       Stations of the Cross every Friday: 5:30PM (English) and 7:00PM (Spanish)

·       Reconciliation Service: Thursday, March 20 at 5:00PM onward. Ten priests hearing confessions

·       Holy Week Schedule:

o  Holy Thursday, April 17: Bilingual Mass of the Lord’s Supper 7:00PM

o  Good Friday, April 18: Bilingual Celebration of the Lord’s Passion 7:00PM

o  Holy Saturday, April 19: Bilingual Easter Vigil 8:00PM

o  Easter Sunday, April 20: Normal Weekend Schedule

In Advent 2024, Father Taryn, Father Daniel and I teamed up to write an Advent Daily Reflection Booklet. My plan is to have a Lenten Daily Reflection Booklet ready by Lent 2026 written exclusively by me. I will use this Lent to write my reflections for next Lent.

Happy Lent!

Father John

2025

2024

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