You Still Have Time

Good morning.  May the peace that comes from a closeness to Jesus fill your hearts today and throughout this Lenten Season.

 

The Gospel of Mark begins with the statement that after the arrest of John [the Baptist], Jesus went through all of Galilee preaching and healing.  His reported words were, “Repent and hear the Good News.” Mark 1:15

 

During Lent we are called by the Church, just as Jesus called the people of Galilee, to reflect on our lives in the context of the Good News.  That reflection is to result in change.  That is what repentance means, i.e., to re-think our lives and to change our ways.

 

So, lets get serious.  Today’s headlines in the Dallas Morning News reads “Ignorance blamed for local rise in teen STDs”.  In my community our children can claim partial ignorance, I believe.  They come from wealthy households and a school system that steeps them in sex education.  So they are not ignorant of how STDs are spread.  They are ignorant of how the spread of STDs can be controlled.  They are taught that the solution is a condom.  They are not taught to think.  They are not taught that there is a better reason to not engage in sexual activity.

 

The problem is that our children have not internalized the fact that sexual activity outside of marriage is grievously sinful and could result in their going to Hell rather than going to Heaven.  Our children have not been taught the value and the grace of virginity.  Our children do not understand self-discipline and self-control.  Our children are partially to blame since I believe they are capable of thought and reason and learning and deciding.  But, we parents and community have failed – sins of omission – to teach them what is important.  Rather, we taught them that winning is important, that life is competition that must be won at all costs, that education or excelling at a sport is the ultimate solution wealth and a happy life.  We have focused our lives and theirs on wealth accumulation and fame. We did not focus on morality and sin and the tenets of the Catholic Church and the joy of a moral, holy life.  Our children are only partially to blame.

 

Lent is a time for change.  For the sake of your children, for the sake of your own salvation, for the sake of our country spend time this Lent talking to your children and grandchildren about the love of Jesus, the need to turn away from sin, and the value of our ultimate goal, Eternal Life, and the basic teachings of the Church.  Be honest with them.  Admit your own doubts and failings.  Seek their help, too, in your little family community.  Decide to change together.

 

 

Please pray for our families, our sick, those who are dying, our military, our politicians, our Church leaders, for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for our associated ministries, for each other, for mass repentance.

 

Let us pray,

Father, we adore you and praise you.  We thank you for the myriad blessings of yesterday and today.  We seek forgiveness for not passing on our Faith to our children.  We ask for the grace of courage to re-think our lives this Lent, to see where and how we can change our ways, to begin to change our habits so that we will become better followers of the Gospel and your Son.  We ask this for our own selves and so that we can help our children and others change and come closer to you.  We ask this and lay all of our needs before you in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

 

In Him and in His love,

Lou

Pray!  Trust!  Expect!  Be like Bartemaeus.