“Be Perfect as your Heavenly Father
is Perfect”
A lot of us
hear that and think that Jesus does not REALLY mean we should be perfect…but
Jesus does want us to be perfect moving forward…and we stand on the cusp of a
great season to help us grow in perfection…
Lent start
this Wednesday with Ash Wednesday Masses and Liturgy of the Word services with
ashes. The season of Lent provides three
ways we can grow closer to perfection
Prayer. What are we adding to our prayer life every
day this lent? Maybe it is a daily
rosary if you haven’t been praying that, maybe it is the daily Mass readings if
you haven’t been doing that. Also on the
topic of prayer just know that one of the most confessed sins is distraction in
prayer and distraction at Mass. Please
know that it is NOT a sin to be distracted in prayer/Mass unless you are
WILLING and ACTIVELY CHOOSING to be distracted.
Fasting is
for Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59, excluding anyone who is sick, or
suffers from Diabetes, nor are pregnant nor nursing mothers required to
fast. The 2 days of Fasting in the
Catholic Church are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Fasting is one meal and 2 smaller meals that,
added together, do not equal a meal. Ash
Wednesday, Good Friday and all other Fridays during Lent we should also not eat
meat if we are 14 years or older. All
those are the regulations and laws with Fasting, but we should also be fasting
throughout Lent from something every day.
Maybe it is desserts and/or TV and/or social media…
Which leads
into the third way we grow in perfection, and that is through giving alms to
the poor. In America, we are so
tremendously blessed with wealth…are we sharing it with those around us??? Also, I think another import aspect to
almsgiving is one that Pope Francis has made a central theme of his pontificate
– to encounter the poor directly…to not just give them a handout but to have a
conversation with them…to honor their human dignity.
Let us use
this upcoming season of Lent to grow more perfect, day by day, and thus heed
Jesus’s call in today’s Gospel to become perfect!
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