New Springtime, New Mission

Many languages have a name for Lent that is rooted in “the forty days”, such as Spanish which calls the season Cuaresma, marking our sharing in Jesus’ time in the desert after being baptized to prepare for his new public mission. Our name for “Lent”, you may recall, is actually based on the old English word for springtime, lencten (presumably for the lengthening of days more than for warmth). And boy, do we need a springtime this year... and soon! Lent, it is often said, is like spring training season for baseball and other sports. We need this re-training in our spiritual life as well, to make sure we don’t become complacent in our relationship with God, accustomed to little sins that they become bigger problems, or forget to appreciate how everything we have is a gift from God.

Our collaborative parishes are happy to announce, we will be aided in our Lenten journey by the return of our Lenten Mission this March 15, 16, and 17! We have reworked the program, which was scheduled last year for the first week the Cardinal told us we should cancel public worship, to be more fitting for our current experiences and need for spiritual strength and nourishment. We hope many of you will be able to join us in person at St. Mary Church (while maintaining social distancing), but for those who need to stay home, we are making it a “hybrid” mission with the option to participate through Zoom. Sister Regina Dick, the Daughter of St. Paul who was prepared to lead last year’s mission, will give a talk one night, and we are expanding upon her original plan to have a few parishioners give witness talks as well. On one or two of the nights, we will be inviting people in the church (and those participating via Zoom) to share brief comments after the talks.

Lent invites us to journey with Christ through his suffering, death, and resurrection — the Pascal Mystery. So, the theme of this mission will be connecting our journey through the pandemic to our journey with Jesus toward resurrection and new life. As we look forward with hope to a new “springtime” when the pandemic ends, we also need to have a new springtime in the life of the Church as we welcome back our sisters and brothers, and encourage them to return to the table of the Lord’s Word and the Eucharist! We will have more information on the Mission available through our website and the bulletin in the weeks to come, but in the meantime, save the dates in your calendar right now!  Have a wonderful first week of Lent, rediscovering God’s love that motivates him to help wash us clean and give us a fresh start!