Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
April 2, 2025 Column Father De Celles
This Wednesday, March 5, Ash Wednesday, we begin the Holy season of Lent, a gift of 40 days to renew our souls and our lives in the mystery of the Mystery of the Cross and Resurrection. A time to ask, do I truly believe in Christ’s amazing salvific sacrifice of love on the Cross? Do I love Him in return and pick up my crosses to follow Him? Do I believe Him when He said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”?
Doing Penance. Lent is a time to do personal acts of penance, traditionally of three types: 1) almsgiving (including acts of charity), 2) sacrifice (what you “give up” or “endure”), and 3) prayer. Please choose your penances carefully, considering your health and state in life. Challenge yourself, but pick things you can actually do, rather than things that are so difficult that you may easily give up on them. Offer all this in atonement for your sins and as acts of love for the God who, out of love, died on the Cross for your sins.
Consider doing something like this: 1) pick a small penance from one of the “types” above and do it every day (e.g., for sacrifice, give up sodas), 2) pick 2 other small penances from the other two types and do them once a week (e.g. give a little extra to the “poor box” or offertory collection on Sunday, and 3) pick one big penance from one of the types and do it once a week (e.g., see “TWO BIG WEEKDAYS” below for some possibilities, e.g., go to the 7pm Mass every Wednesday, spend time at Exposition/adoration every Friday).
Ash Wednesday. Ashes will be distributed at all Masses on Ash Wednesday: 6:30am, 8am, 12noon, 5pm and 7pm. Since ashes are merely symbolic (a “sacramental” not a “Sacrament”) they may be received by anyone who wishes to repent their sins, Catholic or not, in “good standing” or not. Ashes are an important and powerful public witness to our faith in Christ Crucified, His Gospel of repentance, and His grace of forgiveness. (Note: There are no confessions scheduled on Ash Wednesday).
Fasting and Abstinence. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of both fasting and abstinence, and every Friday in Lent is a day of abstinence.Failure to “substantially” keep these penances is a grave matter (e.g., potentially a mortal sin). Please see the explanation of these rules elsewhere in this bulletin.
Lenten Schedule. Lent brings a much busier parish schedule, which we’ve laid out in detail in this week’s “Lenten Schedule” insert. Please keep this insert in a central place in your home to remind you of the many opportunities for spiritual growth the parish offers this Lent.
Sacrament of Penance. Confession is absolutely the key to a fruitful Lent, so we have confessions almost every day. The times vary throughout the week, and from week to week, so double check the “Lenten Schedule” insert.
Evening Mass. In addition to our regular Wednesday evening, we will add a 7pm Mass on Tuesdays and Thursdays during Lent.
TWO BIG WEEKDAYS. Other than Sunday we offer 2 days that present extra opportunities for Lenten penance.
First, WEDNESDAYS: we have Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament from 9am to 7pm, with confessions from 6-8pm. At 6:30 we have the Family Rosary (all are invited). Then at 7pm we have Mass, I will give a five-part series of “extended homilies” (about a 15-to-20-minute homily) as our “Lenten Series.” This year we will meditate on, “The Wounds of Our Lord’s Passion”:
March 12: The Wounds of the Scourging
March 19: The Wounds of the Crown of Thorns
March 26: The Wounds of Carrying the Cross
April 2: The Wounds of the Nails
April 9: The Wound Piercing the Sacred Heart
Second, FRIDAYS: Once again we will have All-Night Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every Friday/Saturday in Lent, from after the Friday 8:30am Mass, continuing throughout the day and night until Saturday Morning before the 9am Mass. (Like we do every first Friday of the month). Experience a little bit of Good Friday every week.
This is an especially great form of penance you can adopt for yourself during Lent: both sacrifice and prayer, and even an act of charity if you pray for others. It’s especially powerful if you do it in the middle of the night! So I encourage all of you to take at least one hour during Lent, if not every week, to spend with our Lord during this Exposition.
Also, every Friday evening we have Stations of the Cross at 7pm. Note the Exposed Blessed Sacrament will be temporarily reposed during the Stations (as the law requires), and exposed again immediately afterward.
And don’t forget the great opportunity for Lenten fellowship at our pot-luck Soup-Suppers at 5:30pm (if you bring something to eat that can be your penance of “almsgiving”).
CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR THE POPE. Here’s an excellent commentary (experts) about speculation etc., by Phil Lawler at Catholic Culture.
“The Vatican…always has been…stingy with details about a Pontiff’s health. Two factors are at work there, I think. First, there is a very reasonable respect for the Pope’s privacy; no one wants to broadcast the intimate details about his bodily functions. Second, there is a …longstanding tendency among Vatican officials to insist that the Pope is healthy, notwithstanding clear evidence to the contrary.
“Still any announcement that the Pope is failing can excite the very excitable rumor mills around Rome, and so I can understand why Vatican officials do their best to tamp down speculation. …In short the bulletins didn’t tell us much.
“…After a few days of those anodyne Vatican bulletins, reports in the mainstream media began to say that the Pope’s condition was worsening. Actually I think…the few details leaking out of the Gemelli [hospital] complex were revealing that his illness had been, from the outset, more serious than the Vatican wanted to admit.
“Double pneumonia is a serious matter, particularly for an 88-year-old man with a record of uncertain physical health. And when doctors announced that the Pope was suffering from a “polymicrobial” infection—that is, multiple different simultaneous infections—it should have been no surprise that he would remain in the hospital longer than the 3-4 days the earliest Vatican estimates had suggested. Still, each day the hospital reported that the Pope’s condition was not deteriorating.
“Why, then, did media reports jump to the conclusion that Pope Francis was rapidly failing? Perhaps because journalists are always hoping to break a big story. …That, and the fact that if Pope Francis is nearing the end of his life, journalists have an opportunity to speculate about the papal succession….
“….The Pope’s life is not in immediate danger, the doctors assure us, but he is not out of danger, either….it could deteriorate quickly, and gravely…Everything depends on the doctors’ success in finding the right medications to defeat the infections.
“Will they succeed? We don’t know. Journalists will always be tempted to speculate. Catholics should be more productively inclined to pray.”
Oremus pro invicem. Fr. De Celles