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     The Scribes and the Pharisees are asking Jesus why he is eating with sinners and tax collectors? Could it be that these people were the only ones to accept him? Maybe they were the only ones who invited him. Jesus makes it clear that it is for the sinners and tax collectors that he came. They are the ones in need of healing. If the only qualification for coming and eating with Jesus is that the person be a sinner, then we are definitely invited. We meet the requirements. Everytime we gather for Mass, we are there with Jesus Christ. The only difference today is that when we gather to be with the Lord, it is to eat his Body and drink his Blood. By doing so we proclaim his death and resurrection until he returns again in glory. This is the “medicine of immortality” of which St. Ignatius of Antioch speaks.

      Thanks be to Jesus Christ for coming to be with us and teach us that the Father is merciful and is willing to take us back if we only repent. Thanks be to Jesus Christ for dying for us on the cross that the disease of sin and death will not have the last word.

Please pray for all priests and seminarians and support Sacred Heart Radio.

        The reading from the book of Deuteronomy has Moses exhorting the Jewish people to choose life. To choose life means to choose God. It is clear from the Gospel that to choose God means to daily take up our crosses and following him. Most people want to prove themselves as worthy friends, spouses, employees, etc. This desire for approval is seen in our ability to make sacrifices for God, for others and for higher things such as honor and principle. The highest thing to sacrifice for is love. This kind if sacrifice is also the most difficult as well as the most fulfilling. In order to be filled, one must first become empty. Christ sacrificed himself on the cross for the love of all mankind. He is clear that if we are to follow him, we must sacrifice as well. This sacrifice should not be done begrudgingly, but joyfully.

       Now that we have begun this second day of Lent, let us ask the Lord to help us to be willing to sacrifice for others and for Him, both bigs ones and little ones. When we begin to do that, we will be one more step on the way to Easter, when we will see what our sarifices have really accomplished.

Please pray for all priests and seminarians and support Sacred Heart Radio.

     When Lent begins, I tend see people with sour faces. They look more serious and more devout, and they don’t look like they are having much fun. Lent can also be a fun time. It is time to do new things, like go to the stations of the cross, make a pilgrimage to a local fish fry or spiritual talk at a parish, or give yourself an excuse for changing something about your life, you wanted to, but did not have the nerve to carry it out.

      Some seem more interested in giving up stuff for a while rather than taking on things that can change the direction of your life. This is the time the Church gives us every year to challenge ourselves to become better believers. Even if we are good, we can always be better. It is not about the quantity of things that we give up or take on, rather it is about the quality of our love for God that needs to increase. When I measure the success of my work during Lent, I want to see concretely how I have grown in my relationship with God to become a better person intellectually, spiritually and even physically, though that is the hardest for me. 

     All I can say is have a good time during Lent. Enjoy being with God more, take advantage of the opportunities to serve others. Then, when we finally come to Easter Sunday, we will be able to truly celebrate how through the death and resurrection of Jesus and the working of the Holy Spirit we have become better servants of God and one another. 

     My four-night Lenten series entitled “Living Jesus: Reclaiming our Catholic Faith” begins tonight at Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center in Norwood at 7:30 pm.

These are the talks for the four nights

February 23  Living God, Living Word

February 24  Living Faith, Living Waters

February 25 Living Church, Living Bread  Mass with distribution of Ashes begins at 7:00pm

February 26 Living Sacrifice, Living Prayer