Dear Friends,
Lent begins on Wednesday! Ready or not, this amazing liturgical season is here! You should have all received a flyer from us with our Lenten offerings to help you live your Lent better.
Hopefully, you are aware that we are launching Cabrini Communities in March. This is really not a Lenten offering, but a very important way in which we grow spiritually. Cabrini Communities are beginning now, but they will meet monthly throughout the year. Currently we have 27 Cabrini Communities planned with over 200 participants. This is very high engagement for a parish our size. As your pastor, I am very pleased by the engagement and I see that level of commitment as another sign of your spiritual maturity. We know some of you are still finalizing your plans. Some of you may think this is only for couples, but it is truly for everyone in the parish – married, single, widowed, divorced. If your spouse does not want to be involved but you do, that is no problem. If your group is made up primarily of family and friends who do not belong to Cabrini, that too is wonderful. As a reminder, be sure to reach out to Deacon Doug at dalenz@archomaha.org (402) 312-3550 or Ann Lenz at amlenz@archomaha.org (402) 990-3296 when your group is formed so that we can coordinate materials for you and your group members.
Our Bible Study begins Wednesday evening. We will be studying the Acts of the Apostles. You can do this in person or by Zoom. It is perfect timing for this study with the launch of both Cabrini Communities and the Archdiocese’ pastoral planning process. Let me quote the scholar William Willimon about studying the Acts of the Apostles:
Let us be reminded that Acts, like the rest of Scripture, has as its purpose the formation and equipment of disciples. Jesus did not come bringing an interesting philosophy of life. He came calling people to a new way of living and dying. The stories in Acts not only depict an author, God, not only render a new way of living, discipleship in the world, but also render a way of living, discipleship in the church. Given who God is and the way God’s world is, this way of life makes sense. When we read about the way the early church organized itself and stood with its surrounding culture, or when we read the exploits of people like Paul, we are learning what sort of pilgrimage life is, the dangers it holds for those who are faithful, the limitations inherent in this life, what sort of character is required to make it through, the rewards to be had by living faithfully. Scripture, like any good story, depicts an adventure and gives clues as to how ordinary folk like you and I can get on in this life, can be church today, or how we can miss the whole point. When asked by unbelievers, “How do we know your gospel is true?” we must, like Acts, trot out not only our little arguments for inspection but also our little lives. The best support any of us can give these stories is the way we back them up with the lives we lead.
I would encourage you for the next few days to think about your Lent. Lent is a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, in which believers seek to go deeper into the living out of the mystery of Jesus in their lives. Lent is forty days in spiritual observance of the forty days Jesus spent in the desert. Lent brings us to stop, puts ashes on our foreheads, makes us abstain from meat, calls us to prayer and to the poor, and summons us to other spiritual practices, so that the value of our lives and the purpose of our discipleship can be rediscovered. Lent takes our spirits and moves them to a renewed focus on God’s incredible love for us and how we are responding to that love. Lent is not merely about self-improvement for its own sake. Lent is about our souls longing for God and the deeper realization of being embraced by God through the self-emptying love of Jesus Christ. Lent is about our becoming more like Jesus himself. He is the way and the truth and the life. Make your goal this Lent to be more like Jesus, so when Easter comes you can rise with him.
Peace,
Fr. Damian