It’s been a strange and unusually warm winter, hasn’t it?  With the exception of a few extraordinarily frigid days, it’s felt more like spring than winter.  Some of you may still be looking for that one, major snow storm but, ready or not, spring is fast approaching.  Liturgically, Lent – which means “spring” – is almost here; it starts this week with Ash Wednesday.  Just as the natural world is reawakened and renewed every spring, each year, the Church, in her wisdom, offers us this liturgical Season of Lent, a season for reconciliation and renewal in preparation for Easter, when we celebrate the new life Jesus offers through his death and Resurrection.

On Ash Wednesday, we will again be made aware of our sinfulness and our need for salvation.  We are called to choose to accompany Jesus as he offers his life to save us.  On Ash Wednesday, we will receive ashes on our forehead as both a sign of repentance and a call to choose to prepare for our eternal salvation.  This is why the person who imposes ashes has a choice of two formulas: “Repent and believe in the Gospel,” or “Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return.”

In preparation for the Lenten Season, I would like to offer you copies of the popular Lenten Black Book at the church entrances.  Feel free to take one for yourself and another for a friend or neighbor who isn’t yet returning to church in person.  This booklet offers brief, thought-provoking reflections for every day of Lent based on the Sunday Mass readings as well as interesting quotes, information and timely thoughts.

I also encourage you to join a new archdiocesan Lenten initiative: Go Forth. Sign up to receive a weekly text from Archbishop Pérez with one action step you can take that week to deepen your friendship with Jesus or grow in your mission to bring Jesus to others.  Text goforth to the number 84576 or visit phillydisciples.org/goforth to sign up!

This is also a very good time to take advantage of the healing Sacrament of Reconciliation, which is scheduled every Saturday 4:00 – 4:45pm, except on Holy Saturday (8 April).  And, we will again host a regional Lenten Penance Service on Wednesday, 22 March, beginning at 7:00pm.

Additionally, we will be one of the two parishes in our deanery offering opportunities to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation during the archdiocesan Reconciliation Weekend on 10 and 11 March.  We will have priests available to hear your confession 1:00 – 4:00pm and 6:00 – 8:00pm on Friday, 10 March, and 9:00am – 12:00noon on Saturday, 11 March.  You will find more information on this special initiative on a separate flyer this weekend and next in the Parish Bulletin and on the parish website.

On Wednesday, 29 March, we will have our Lenten Evening of Reflection beginning with a soup and bread dinner at 6:15pm.  Msgr. Francis Beach, our new senior priest, will offer us his helpful reflections.  Mark your calendars and plan to attend!

We will also have Stations of the Cross throughout Lent at 7:00pm every Friday evening.  Our school students will present their annual Living Stations on Friday, 31 March.  This is a very moving way to prepare for Holy Week, which begins with Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord just two days later, on 2 April.  And, in addition to the beautiful Mass of the Lord’s Supper at 7:00pm on Holy Thursday, 6 April, and the Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion at 3:00pm on Good Friday, we will host the Wayne Ecumenical Ministerium Good Friday Service at noon that day and we’re privileged to have the VoxAmaDeus Ensemble perform Gabriel Fauré’s “Requiem and Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Easter Oratorio” beginning at 7:00pm that same evening.  All of these events will offer us very powerful occasions to close this most Holy Week of the year.

Another essential aspect of the Lenten Season is almsgiving.  As we become aware of the great sacrifice our Lord, Jesus, made for us on the cross, we are called to share in his sacrifice by sharing the abundance of God’s gifts with those in need around the world.  Operation Rice Bowl is an excellent way to do just that.  Rice Bowls are at the church entrances for your use.  Over the past few years, these Rice Bowl packets have become more interesting, with reflections on and recipes from a variety of areas in the world that Catholic Relief Services supports through your donations.  This year, the countries are Honduras, Kenya and the Philippines.  You can also meet your global family at crsricebowl.org.

Yes, this is a very important time for us Christians.  Let us take the opportunity, once again, to join together in turning back to God and to each other as we prepare to celebrate the new life we have received in the Risen Lord at Easter!