The Tolton Society Mardi Gras was a really great celebration. Thanks to the Tolton Society and to all who participated. The good times really did role!
Lent began on Wednesday. Fast and abstinence regulations are listed above. It is a long standing custom to give up something for Lent. Some common things are: giving up smoking, drinking of alcohol, candy, etc. We give up something in Lent as a penance, since it is the penitential season preparing for Easter. This is like in the Bible when people put on sack cloth and ashes. It is a reminder of God’s love for us, as we give up something to show our love for God. This becomes clear in our Ash Wednesday liturgy when we are asked to do three things: pray more, fast, and give to the poor. So then pray, fast, and give alms for the forty days of Lent.
In our first reading today from the Book of Genesis, God makes a covenant with Noah and his descendants after the flood. God says: “When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds, I will recall the covenant I have made between me and you and all living beings, so that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all mortal beings.”
In our second reading St. Peter talks about Noah and the flood and says “This prefigured baptism, which saves you now.” With our own baptism, we make a covenant with God. We are saved from eternal death by the waters of Baptism, just as Noah was saved from death in the waters of the flood.
In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus, right after his own baptism, living in the desert for 40 days, as he prepared for his public ministry. His message at the end of the passage is our message for Lent: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
As Jesus spent 40 days in the desert, we spend 40 days in Lent with prayer, fasting and almsgiving. We need to pray a little more and prayer is just talking and listening to God. We need to fast by giving something up to show ourselves and God that God is more important in our lives. Our almsgiving is helping those in need. Remember, we do all this to get ready for Holy Week and especially Easter, Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins and rising to new life and saying we too can live with him forever. This is the new covenant.
Stacey Clark is signing people up for the 90th Anniversary Committee. Please see her, if you would like to help out.
The National Black Catholic Congress has published a Pastoral Plan of Action. It can be found on their website. Remember that February is Black History Month. Read a little Black History this February. It is a great part of the American Experience.
Prayer for the Beatification of Henriette Delille:
O good and gracious God, You called Henriette Delille to give herself in service and in love to the slaves and the sick, to the orphan and the aged, to the forgotten and the despised. Grant that inspired by her life, we might be renewed in heart and in mind. If it be Your will may she one day be raised to the honor of sainthood.
By her prayers, may we live in harmony and peace, through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
Let us continue to pray for peace in the world. Let us also pray for vocations to the church. Let us pray for the sick of the parish. Let us pray that all will come to respect life. Let us pray for one another and for the canonization of Father Tolton.