Ash Wednesday

It seems like it was just Christmas but today is Ash Wednesday.  Hard to believe.  Today lots of folks will receive ashes on their foreheads in the ancient sign of renewal, repentance, conversion and change.

What will you do this Lent?  How will you participate in the three fold traditional response of prayer, penance and acts of charity?  Make a plan.  Make it reasonable but make it real.

A few more minutes of prayer each day?  Maybe Mass during the week if possible?  What can we "give up"?  Not just food or drink but giving up gossip or giving up grudges.   Much more difficult than chocolate or other sweets.   How can we reach out to our brothers and sisters and make thier lives just a little bit better.

The ashes on our foreheads will wash away.  May the love of the Lord in our hearts carry us through to the joys of Easter Sunday

Monsignor Hoye