Lent I

Recent Daily Sermons
Fr. Lehtoranta: St. Ignatius and St. Bridget

Fr. McGuire: The Tears of a Candle

Fr. McKenna: St. Blaise

Fr. McGuire: From Wolf to Lamb

Fr. Lehtoranta: First Friday and St. Agatha

Fr. McGuire: First Saturday and Simeon

zelusdomustuae
✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
Nature was still wearing white vestments last week, heedless of the arrival of Lent. Still, she so scheduled the snow so as to make possible the Ashes for Wednesday, Lent’s opening. Thursday was the feast of St. Bernadette, privileged child of Mary, who saw the Immaculata 18 times. But Our Lady’s appeal, her repeated admonition even as she kindly heals our sick, is most insistent: Penance! Penance! Penance! May Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette watch over this crucial Lent, offered with whatever prayer and penance we can manage, in reparation to the Holy Face, for the salvation of our country.

Today is the solemn, public Sunday start of Lent. We’re offering blessed ashes, on the forehead as traditional, for those who couldn’t make it Wednesday. (The Novus Ordo declared forehead ashes “unhealthy,” but head ashes just fine. Don’t try to figure it out. It’s meant to make no sense.) Lent is called the “soul’s spring,” and we hope weather now will reflect this spiritual truth. It does make getting around so much easier. Church is always last priority (after Kroger), so we are always asking for good weather.

Still, we can’t complain, not about Covid, nor about snow. (Well, maybe about the Covid snow job. The propaganda in public places is unbearable.) The good news is how many of you made the sacrifice to come after work Wednesday, made the sacrifice to assist at the Holy Sacrifice. I am hopeful for a great Lent, one that reflects the devotion, the enthusiasm of our faithful. It’s encouraging for any cook to see such good appetites!

Our brethren in Texas suffered far more than we with our warm homes during cold weather. These kinds of outages, along with everything else anymore, just seem staged, faux, one more true act of “domestic terrorism,” brought to you by the powers that be. So, you see the need for prayer for our beloved country? Be generous in your sacrifices of time and church, as well as fasting.

Keep the Texans in your prayers. Fr. McGuire is heading down to Dallas after the 7:30 this morning for their third Sunday of the month Mass. May all go well. Fr. McKenna has been gallivanting all around the frozen north, North Dakota and Wisconsin specifically. Our goal this year was to distribute the Blessed Ashes at as many of our missions as possible. God bless our intrepid missionaries. “Who is that masked man?” He is a priest of the Most High God.

Once again, it is curious, typically topsy-turvy, that the Novus Ordo says that ashes on the face are=unhealthy. The first of the beautiful blessing prayers on Wednesday asked that they bring us “health of body and safety of soul.” May our good God grant this grace to us all, and thus, may we well begin our 40 Day Fast.

I send a blessing home to you, and every prayer for a good Lent. Remember our sick, shut-in and dear departed.

–Bp. Dolan

P.S. Send a SASE for a free Lent 2021 Holy Face holy card(s).