Fr. Tom’s Letters

Lent has begun! As we do every year for the First Sunday of Lent, we hear the gospel story of Jesus’ temptations in the desert. More on that later. Some of the noteworthy additions to our calendar for Lenten practices and prayer include:

Þ Weekday evening Lenten Mass at 5:30 – Monday to Friday

Þ Lenten Friday evening Stations of the Cross at 7:00PM each Friday during Lent

Þ March Mondays Mission for Lent. On each Monday evening of Lent beginning Monday, March 2, we will, have evenings of prayer and reflection.

Þ On Monday, March 23, we will have Masses for Healing at Noon and 7:00PM.

Þ On Saturday, March 14, we will have a morning Lenten Men’s Retreat. Our keynote speaker will be Fr. Peter Heiskell, the chaplain at Chaminade High School who grew up as a parishioner at St. Anne’s.

Þ On Wednesday, March 18, we will have a presentation from staff members at Commonweal that will focus on our present experience of the Church with the new leadership of Pope Leo.

Þ On Monday, March 30, the Monday of Holy Week, we will celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation with all other parishes in the metropolitan area with extended hours for confession during the afternoon and evening

Information on these many Lenten activities can be found throughout the bulletin.

Other parish, parish social ministry, school, and faith formation activities will continue all through March. It will be an active and busy time. Participate as you are able.

Many activities will take place in the St. Francis Ministry Center. Although all the repairs may not be completed by March 1, we intend to use the building making some safety modifications and re-orienting the use of bathrooms.

THE TEMPTATIONS

In today’s gospel, we hear the story of Jesus’ experience of temptation as he spends 40 days in the desert. Note the opening line of the gospel: “At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert.” We ought not overlook the Spirit during the Lenten season. Interestingly in the Morning Prayer for Ash Wednesday, the prayer that the Church gives us is “Lord, give us your Holy Spirit.” We have no need to push the Holy Spirit into the background waiting for Easter and Pentecost. The Holy Spirit pushed Jesus into his 40-day desert experience which is a foundational element of our 40 day Lenten season.

Note in each of the three devil temptations that Jesus faces in the desert, each incident ends with Jesus making statements that reveal his knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the presence of God.

In a most insightful commentary in the temptation of Jesus, Rev. George Aschenbrenner, S, J., wrote regarding the desert temptation: “He is asked here to ratify, and thus to embrace, at the level of mission and action, His own relation to the Father.” It is difficult to understand fully the impact of that sentence without familiarity with the entire essay. Yet, it offers us a help to understand our own experience of temptation.

We all experience temptation. And temptations come in many forms. Temptations to gossip, to greed, to dishonesty, to anger and retribution, to sexual temptations. None of us are exempt from temptation. And sometimes temptation wins and we sin. At other times in the midst of temptation, we know our relationship to Jesus, our relationship to the Father, our love for other people calls us to something more. We feel the resistance to the temptation and avoid sin. Perhaps this is when we experience the activity of the Holy Spirit in our lives, even in Lent.

I have not given the Holy Spirit lots of thought, time, and space in past Lents. I hope this Lent is a little different. A great Lenten prayer, especially in time of temptation: “Lord, give us your Holy Spirit.”

Have a Holy Spirit positive Lent!