Text Box: I will have to be honest to say that Lent is not something that I eagerly await; however, I can also say that the season of Lent is always a wonderful time for my spiritual life. The season of Lent which lasts forty weekdays and includes six Sundays begins on Ash Wednesday which falls on February 6th this year. Lent is first and foremost a time of prayer, penance and almsgiving in preparation for the celebration of the Lord’s resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday. Easter is the highest and most solemn feast on the Church’s liturgical calendar taking precedence over all other observances even Christmas. Because Easter is so important we prepare ourselves by a period of repentance. The forty-six days of Lent is based on the forty days that our Lord spent in the desert preparing Himself to begin the public ministry. We read in Matthew 4:2 that Jesus “fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward was hungry.” It was during this time that He faced temptations and overcame them. We too are often tempted to abandon the way that God has prepared for us, and so we must have the strength to resist temptation and live the Text Box: kind of lives that Jesus asks us to live. Lent is a great help in the task of growing in holiness. I mentioned above that Lent is characterized by three elements: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Lent is then a time for increased prayer. Some choose to come to daily Mass in Lent which is a practice I highly recommend and can even extend beyond Lent. Besides the Holy Mass which is the Church’s greatest prayer, we also pray the Stations of the Cross with the school at 2:30 pm and as a parish at 5:30 pm. One might choose to pray the rosary, even doing so as a family before the children go to bed. Praying with the Sacred Scriptures is also a great way to incorporate prayer into our daily routine. Fasting is also another element of Lent and has both a communal and personal aspect. As a Church we fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and this means that we have only one meal with two snacks that do not equal the main meal. We also abstain from meat which includes poultry and game on these two days and the Fridays of Lent. There is Text Box: also a personal fasting that we do and we usually refer to it as “what we’ve given up.” For some it’s chocolate for others candy or alcohol. This is often where the sacrifice is felt the most and therefore usually the most profitable for our souls. Almsgiving is the final element of Lent and the most simple. Almsgiving means that we give to the poor. Many families choose to participate in Catholic Relieve Services operation Rice Bowl which collects change during the Lenten season to assist those in the world most in need of food. There are a variety of ways to give to the poor, and in the Archdiocese of Mobile Catholic Charities does a tremendous amount of good. And so may you and your family have a blessed and fruitful Lenten season in anticipation of the great feast of Easter. As many of you know, these past few weeks have been a bit hectic for me since my father has been in the hospital in Montgomery. I am an only child and the rest of our family lives outside the state. So, thank you for all of your prayers for my dad. He is now home and receiving home care, but he is looking to come down to Mobile so that we can be closer. Please continue to keep him in your Text Box: Pastor’s Corner—Celebrating Lent

February 2008
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Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam  

Due to the new privacy act, hospitals are requiring that patients specifically state the parish from which they would like to receive a priest’s visit.  Please let the hospital know that you or your loved one is from St. Ignatius Catholic Church and you can always call the rectory at 342-9221.
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