“You are dust and to dust you shall return” (Gn 3:19) 

When you turn sixty, everyday is a wakeup call that life is short. Now I wake up when my favorite deacon stops snoring.

Yet I am still startled every Ash Wednesday when the Church reminds me that I will return to the dust of the earth.  The time to repent and live the life of discipleship is now.  I know Lord.  I know.

But Lord I am weak and lazy. I am the Scarlet O’Hara of disciples; “I’ll think about that tomorrow”.

Procrastination is not a Christian virtue.

Yes God is merciful, but he is not going to force his mercy on me. Jesus is waiting to  pick us up when we fall down in utter failure. But we have to let him. We have to invite him into our hearts. We have to invite him into the desert of our souls.

It is Lent. It is time to leave the desert and start our march toward our heavenly home.

Baptism is at the heart of the Lenten season. Our white baptismal garments are dusty; our relationship with God is broken by sin. It is time to convert our hearts and to ask God to “Lead us back to you, O LORD, that we may be restored” (Lamentations 5:20).

Conversion begins with remembering and renewing our baptismal vows. Then it is time to get to work.

If we allow Christ into our hearts through prayer, fasting and alms giving, Lent can be a time of conversion and renewal that breaks us of the indifference that Pope Francis calls us to fight in his 2015 Lenten Message. Read More….

If we dedicate our selves to truly practice Lent, we will be ready to rise with Christ on Easter Sunday.

Prayer:

O Lord,
The house of my soul is narrow;
enlarge it that you may enter in.
It is ruinous, O repair it!

(St. Augustine )