My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
As the season of Lent approaches, we are invted to walk in the steps of Christ, to live a life of conversion marked by faith. As we hear the Word of God proclaimed over these weeks of Lent and in Holy Week and encounter Christ in the sacraments He has given, we are brought into acute consciousness of our own discipleship as a gift and challenge.

What is Lent and why does it last forty days?
Lent is a season of 40 days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. Lent comes from the Anglo Saxon word lencten, which means “spring”. The forty days represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin His ministry.
Lent is a time of repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. It is a time of self-examination and reflection. In the early Church, Lent was a time to prepare new converts for baptism. Today, Christians focus on their relationship with God, often choosing to give up something or to volunteer and give of themselves for others.
Sundays in Lent are not counted in the forty days because each Sunday represents a “mini-Easter” and the reverent spirit of Lent is tempered with joyful anticipation of the Resurrection.

Praying the Stations of the Cross – alone or with a group – is a Lenten tradition.
The Stations of the Cross are a Lenten devotion that offers witness to Jesus’ Passion and Death. At each station we use our senses and our imagination to reflect prayerfully up Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection – to simply experience the visual images and to reflect on Christ’s love for us.

Why should we go to Confession?
Every time we sin, we hurt ourselves, other people and God. The Sacrament of Reconciliation (also called Penance or Confession) was given to us by Christ to help us reconcile with Christ and His Church when we have committed harm. Through the Sacrament, we acknowledge our sins, express our sorrow in a meaningful way, receive the forgiveness of Christ and His Church, make reparation for what we have done and resolve to do better in the future. During His public life, Jesus both forgave sins and reintegrated sinners into the community. This is the goal of the Sacrament of Confession: to forgive sins and to provide reconciliation with Church.
 
LENT + CONFESSION = SPIRITUAL UPLIFTMENT

The Sacrament of Penance & Reconciliation involves four parts: contrition, confession, penance and absolution.  This becomes a great success in our lives.

• Contrition: a sincere sorrow for having offended God and the most important act of the penitent. There can be no forgiveness of sin if we do not have sorrow and a firm resolve not to repeat our sin.
• Confession: confronting our sins in a profound way to God by speaking about them – aloud – to a priest.
• Penance: an important part of our healing is the “penance” imposed in reparation for our sins.
• Absolution: the priest imparts the words which reconcile a sinner to God through the merits of the Cross.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” (Mt. 11:28)
Lent cannot leave us where we are but invites us to renewal, to recommit ourselves wholeheartedly to Jesus and His world-transforming mission.
I hope Lent 2017 proves to be a time of genuine spiritual renewal for you, your communities of faith and families. May you have a fruitful season of Lent.