Lenten Schedule Sunday – Faith Sharing at 10am Daily Mass – Monday through Thursday at 8am Monday – Gospel Reflection at 8:30am Wednesday – Stations and Soup at 12:15pm and Faith Sharing at 5:30pm Thursday – Stations with Ryan at 7:00pm Friday – Rosary at 12:15pm and Holy Hour at 5pm Saturday – St Patrick Mass at 11am
Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday, March 12th.
Don’t miss Mass – Spring ahead one hour.
St. Michael Night Out March 13th from 6pm to 8pm at Sting Ray’s
Lent is a journey. We are pilgrims traveling on an unfamiliar road, seeking to draw nearer to God. Truth be told we need to move beyond the idea that Lent is primarily about self-discipline and “giving-up” things. That is not a bad start, but the foundational call of the Gospels is to make God’s love more present in our world. Pope Francis asks us to pay particular attention to those who live in material, moral or spiritual poverty: "Lent is a fitting time for self-denial; we would do well to ask ourselves what we can give up in order to help and enrich others by our own poverty.” It is facing into our own spiritual poverty that can make all the difference in Lent.
Last week, I spoke of creating your own spiritual plan and said I’d offer a few tips for putting it into practice this week. The first tip would be to trust God to lead you. Don’t take yourself or your plan too seriously. God always desires to draw closer to you, so let God take the lead. And don’t try to be a perfectionist – life will get in the way. It’s okay if your plan gets sidetracked at times. As St. Vincent de Paul preached, “Do not become upset or feel guilty because you interrupted your prayer to serve the poor. God is not neglected if you leave him for such service.” Love is always going to be the bottom line of any plan to grow closer to God. Be gentle with yourself. You live in the world. If you try to live as if you were in a monastery, you’ll set yourself up for failure. Make your spiritual plan fit your life. Experiment and be flexible with it. Remember your plan is meant to bring you deeper into the mystery of God’s love. Your Spiritual plan should represent your way of following Jesus adapted to your life in the here and now.
Speaking of being flexible, I conclude with the Bishop’s dispensation from abstinence on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th with the understanding that we will choose another day that week to abstain from meat:
Regarding the Dispensation from the Discipline of Abstinence on March 17, 2023
The Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence, obligating members of the Faithful over the age of 14 to refrain from consuming meat (mammals and fowl). This year, the Optional Memorial of St. Patrick occurs on a Friday in Lent. Because this memorial is celebrated in significant ways across South Georgia and typically involves the consumption of meat, I hereby grant a general dispensation from the Lenten Discipline of Abstinence on Friday, March 17, 2023, for all members of the Catholic Faithful in the Diocese of Savannah.
Those who wish to take advantage of this dispensation are required to abstain from meat on another day of the same week, excepting Sunday (March 13-18).
Given at Savannah, Georgia this 17th day of February 2023.
Most Reverend Stephen D. Parkes Bishop of Savannah