Lent 2024
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How will you RETURN to the Lord this Lent?
Lent is about so much more than giving up something.
It's an invitation to RETURN to Christ -
to give priority to our relationship with him.
Whether you have a few minutes a day on the go,
or can carve out some quiet time,
make plans to spend time with our Lord.
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Grow in faith this Lent
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Worship and spend time with the Lord
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SUNDAY MASS
Saturday Vigil 5:00 pm
Sunday 7:30 am, 9:00 am, 11:00 am,
1:00 pm (Spanish), 5:00 pm
DAILY MASS
Monday - Friday 8:15 am
Saturday 9:00 am
ADORATION OF THE
BLESSED SACRAMENTWednesdays
Noon - 6:00 pm
Main church
Wednesday
March 13
6:00 - 8:00 pm
Adoration
Confession
Worship Music
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Encounter God's forgiveness
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CONFESSION
FRIDAYS
4:00 - 6:00 pm
SATURDAYS
8:00 - 9:00 am
3:00 - 5:00 pm
Wednesday
March 13
6:00 - 8:00 pm
Adoration
Confession
Worship Music
Confessionals are in the main church
Our priests are here to welcome and guide you.
“There is no sin that God’s mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with the Father.”
Pope Francis
View our guide to confession here
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Walk with Jesus on the day he died for us
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STATIONS OF THE CROSS
FRIDAYS
February 16 -March 22
6:00 pm in the church
SELF-GUIDED
Outdoors at our
Stations of the Cross/Rosary Walk
walk and pray our
1/3 mile lighted, gravel
pathway behind
the preschool playground
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Listen to our Worship Selections at Home!
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This Lent, Re-turn to GodThere is a set of prayers offered by the Church throughout the world called the Divine Office. You might catch a priest or nun praying it or carrying around a small book that contains these daily meditations. In the prayers and meditations for Ash Wednesday, which kicks off the season of Lent, there is a cool reflection taken from Saint Clement, our fourth pope (martyred in 99 AD). It says that throughout the ages of history, “the Lord has offered the opportunity of repentance to any who were willing to turn to him.” He mentions Noah and those he saved, and Jonah who helped turn the hearts of
the pagan Ninevites. Ultimately, Clement explains that this turning back to God comes from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Clement brings up an interesting point. God never stops working on us. God never stops loving us and wanting to grow our relationship with him. If that friendship between us is damaged, God provides the opportunity to fix it.
Every year the Church, with its liturgical seasons, walks through the moments of Christ’s life. We just celebrated his birth. In Lent, we focus on preparing for his passion, death and resurrection. This is one of those moments of possible return! But it takes our involvement. Notice Clement does not say that God forces himself on us. Rather, we need to soften our hearts a bit and “turn” to him. Augustine famously defined sin simply as turning from God and picking another “god” instead. To turn back, we have to reverse this process of sin. We have to let go of the things we have replaced the true God with, and turn back to him. A re-turn. The word “conversion” means pretty much the same thing: changing our vision back to God.
What does this mean to us right now? First off, if you are thinking that maybe you need to do something different or something more to get right with God, then you are hearing the Holy Spirit! This is the initial step of listening to the Lord. It can come in prayer or a moment of quiet. It might be from a twinge in our conscience.
The next step is to think about WHAT in our lives needs to be turned back to God. Maybe our prayer life is flat or non-existent. Maybe we have not been to confession in a while. Perhaps there is a bad habit we need to work on. Perhaps we have not opened the Bible in a long time, and the Gospel of Luke is calling out to us.
Once identified, we prayerfully hand that over to God and think of a concrete way to work on it during Lent. This is not self-improvement. It is allowing God’s Spirit to heal us, and we willingly participate in it.
Ultimately, the goal is opening our heart more to God and making our relationship with Jesus closer than it was before. If we give God a chance, he will take our openness and do something amazing with it.
In the daily readings for Lent, it is amazing how many times the word “return” or “repent” pops up. While it may seem like the people of the Bible sinned a lot, what is really more amazing is that God is always there calling them (and us) back—seeking to heal the relationship.
God will never give up on you. So listen to the Holy Spirit, recognize an area in your life that needs a re-turn to God, and then allow God to do something
real and concrete in you.
by Dr. David Glasow, Director of Evangelization
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