Message from Fr. George

During the season of Lent we practice our three Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Perhaps you have noticed that these three disciplines are the solution for the three temptations Jesus faced in Matthew’s Gospel this past Sunday.

In response to the temptation to turn stones into loaves of bread to feed our hunger we instead fast. As good as things of this world can be, how often do our possessions possess us instead of vice versa? Perhaps our problem is food or drink, or money and material possessions, or our phones, or the number of twitter followers we have, or our purchase of another one of those ‘whatevers’ that we don’t really need but in which we place our self-worth. During Lent then we push those seemingly good things away such that we can gain control over them instead of them continuing to have control over us. We fast from whatever our problem thing is.

In response to the temptation to jump off of the parapet of the Temple to dare God to catch us or let us be harmed we practice prayer. Instead of “putting God to the test” as if we are in charge and God is our servant we get down on our knees and humbling ourselves before God in prayer we remind ourselves that it is God’s will to be done and God’s kingdom to come and not our own.

In response to the temptation to have power over all of the peoples and kingdoms of the world we practice almsgiving remembering that the greatest among us is not the one who dominates or controls others but rather the one who serves. All you have to do is visit your food pantry to remember what the goal of our Catholic faith is which you have practiced so well here by means of the food pantry and clothing center.

Each day we can face the same temptations as did Jesus in the Gospel story. By practicing our Lenten disciplines we hopefully learn those skills that will make us as successful in resisting those temptations as was Jesus.