From the Pastor's Desk

Prayer, Fasting, and Good Works

Seventeen days from today is Ash Wednesday, a day when we proclaim our resolve to rise above sin and evil by having blessed ashes placed on our foreheads. Rising above evil is far more than just avoiding temptation in our personal lives. Truly rising above evil calls us to be beacons of faith, hope, and love in our world, and in particular, in our daily lives. In our parish we will offer two very concrete ways to join together as a parish family to enrich the lives of one another as life-giving members of the Body of Christ, the Church in the world. They will offer what we hear in the Gospel for Ash Wednesday (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18) which is from the Sermon on the Mount. This powerful sermon by Jesus is presented in chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew’s Gospel and spells out in very practical ways how to live the Beatitudes which begin this Sermon. The Gospel for Ash Wednesday invites us to take seriously three very important practices for our spiritual lives: prayer, fasting, and good works.