We are already past the halfway point of Lent. In three weeks we will celebrate Easter. This is a good time to renew or perhaps to restart the Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and works of mercy which we began on Ash Wednesday.
In one of his homilies, St. Peter Chrysologus (406-450) explains the importance of prayer, fasting and almsgiving (works of mercy):
“There are three things, through which faith stands firm, devotion abides and virtue endures: prayer, fasting and mercy. What prayer knocks for on the door, fasting successfully begs and mercy receives. These three are one and give life to one another. For fasting is the soul of prayer. And mercy is the life of fasting.
Let no one cut these three apart – they are inseparable. If a person has only one of them, or if he does not have them all simultaneously, he has nothing. Therefore, he who prays should also fast. And he who fasts should also be merciful. He who wants to be heard when he petitions should hear another who petitions him.
Let prayer, mercy and fasting be one threefold petition for us before God. These three hold fast the citadel of heaven, knock at the private chamber of God our judge, follow up the cases of men before the tribunal of Christ, beg indulgence for the unjust, win pardon for the guilty. The person who does not have these as his aiding advocates in heaven does not have a secure position on earth.
Since these have so high a post in heaven they influence events on earth. They guide prosperity and ward off adversity. They extinguish vices and enkindle virtues. They render bodies chaste and hearts pure. They bring peace to the body and ease the mind. They make the senses a school for disciplinary control. They enable human hearts to become temples of God.”
You are invited to the Diocesan Lenten Pilgrimage this Wednesday evening at the Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. You will have an opportunity for confession from 5:30 PM to 6: 45 PM with a number of priests hearing confessions at stations throughout the Basilica. At 7:00 PM Mass will be celebrated with Monsignor Thomas Petronek as the homilist. Because of the Pilgrimage we will not have our usual Wednesday evening Mass at St. Anthony.