From the bulletin for the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Mar 02, 2025)
Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lent looms large, like a forty-day wide gorge yawning across the coming calendar. We now stand at the very edge of the precipice, with no other option than to descend into its austerities. It will all be over before two months are up; embrace this “very acceptable time” (2 Cor 6:2)!
The transformative potential of a Lent well-lived is unparalleled. Some evil spirits are only cast out through prayer and fasting (Mk 9:29). And it takes sustained exercise of discipline to reform our habits of thinking, desiring, and acting. It’s not about just making it until Easter. It’s about changing the trajectory of our lives. Bettering our eternities. Finally freeing ourselves from crippling customs and suffocating clutter. “Purifying ourselves through obedience to the truth in order to be capable of sincere and intense love from the heart” (cf. 1 Peter 1:22). It’s all about taking to heart the Gospel’s invitation to repent and believe by seizing the “day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2). In that spirit, here are some ideas for your Lenten resolutions:
Fasting
Fasting corresponds to the “repent” part of the Gospel’s call. Ask yourself: what creatures do I tend to over-rely on? What impedes my ascent to God? What occasions sin, expresses selfishness, or inhibits the exercise of charity? Some possibilities:
Actually fast from food: no eating between meals, skipping breakfast, becoming a 1 meal a day person (once a week?), reducing portions, avoiding types (meat, sweets, “favor-eats”), chewing slower, no adding of salt/pepper/condiments…
Excising other dopamine sources: unnecessary screen use, social media, alcohol, coffee, television, video games, YouTube, removing certain apps/installing access-limiting controls, avoiding the snooze button…
Embrace discomfort: wear coarse clothing, sleep on the floor, cold showers, pebble in the shoe…
Fast from noise: worldly music, secular news, professional/college sports (even during March!), frequent checking of phone, non-spiritual podcasts, complaining, negative talk, worry…
Postpone or substitute indulging yourself: order something you dislike when at a restaurant, say a Hail Mary (or two) before each sip of water or scratching an itch, wait an hour before responding to non-urgent text…
Prayer
Prayer corresponds to the call to “believe” in the Gospel. If fasting is turning away from creatures, prayer is turning to God: seeking Him, choosing to trust Him, lovingly lavishing time and attention on Him. Exercising that fundamental act of hope that going to God things will go better for me and everyone else. Possible ways of infusing your Lent with more prayer are:
Inaugurate a family prayer ritual at start or close of day
Daily visit to the Adoration Chapel or to a religious image in the home
Meditation on the daily readings; a psalm-a-day; or prayerfully reading through one Gospel
Compose a litany of gratitude each evening
Become “pen pals” with God through prayerful journaling
Commit to an open adoration hour
Almsgiving
Giving alms is both “repenting” and “believing.” It atones for our past selfishness by putting our goods and our very selves at the service of those in need. It is an act of faith because it is the obedient response to His command to love as He has loved; it expresses our hope that such deeds will one day have their reward; it is a work of love because by almsgiving the Christian grows into union with Christ the Almsgiver. Some ideas:
Reconnect with a different person from your life each day with a call, letter, visit; be intentional about having meaningful and faith-full conversations
Smile at everyone your meet; give words of encouragement or affirmation to your spouse and children
Prepare carekits for the homeless/beggars with family and friends and stock your car with them
Sponsor some new processional or chapel altar candles for St. Mark’s 😁
Take public transportation or walk to work at least once a week; devote extra time it takes to prayer and use savings to give to those in need whom you encounter
Serve a meal at Dorothy Day, sign up as a Pastoral Care minister, or donate the amount you spend on superfluities to those in need
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