Message from our Regional Director for March 2020

Dear Brothers and Sisters

The book of Ecclesiastes tells us, in its beautiful wisdom writings, about the circle of life – there is a time for everything, there is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under heaven:

A time for giving birth,
a time for dying,
a time for planting,
a time for uprooting what has been planted.

A time for killing,
a time for healing,
a time for knocking down,
a time for building.

A time for tears,
a time for laughter,
a time for mourning,
a time for dancing

And we could well add to the Church’s circle of life:

A time of Lent and a time of Easter;
A time of fasting and a time of feasting;
A time of repentance and a time of restoration;
A time of pardon and a time of mercy ….

All in God’s wonderful plan for us, His Children, so that we may enjoy His life in us.

Once again in this year 2020 we enter into this time of Lent and it is for us to do so with excitement and joy as God will, by our observations, continue to work in us for our good.  Let us be open to grace as at this time it is being poured out on us in abundance.  May we experience the richness of this time:

A time to reflect on our lives and our desires by our  prayer and Lenten observances;
A time to move away from our sinful patterns by self-examination and the sacrament of reconciliation;
A time to develop virtue by our almsgiving, by giving to the poor of what we are willing to deprive of selves;
A time to be part of the community activities by our retreats, evening prayer and celebrations of the         Eucharist;
A time to unite the family in prayer by saying the family Rosary…

All this seems daunting but it is the time for that and grace is being poured out on us in abundance.

I remember one Lent we decided that our sacrifice was to give to the poor what we were sacrificing … money from our hamburgers, our ice cream … and I wanted to donate this money to a woman who had no Mass clothes and to get for her a dress for Easter.  Entering the Center on Holy Thursday the woman came up to me all in tears saying that her sister had died and she wanted to go to the funeral and did not have many things including an outfit.  I was shocked as God so beautifully prepared for her even her material need.  I got her the dress from what we had sacrificed for the poor.  It was a joyful event to see how God in His mercy takes care of the poor and needy.

Let us be generous with our lives and enter into this beautiful time of Lent that will turn into a time of Easter.  Have a joyful holy Lent and draw close to Him and He will draw close to you…. Blessings Rose