With Lent quickly approaching, it’s time to consider what we will do with the season of grace that God is giving to us. In thinking about Lent, I’m reminded of an email that I received from a parishioner last May.
The writer, Sarah, shared her experience of Lent with her husband, Brad, and their twin sons, Jack and Henry, who were finishing up their kindergarten year in our Catholic school. It was about this time of year and with the topic of Lent having come up in their class, Jack and Henry came home to ask their parents, “What are we doing for Lent?”
While the family was actively involved at school, they were not as involved at church and going to Mass, so they decided as a family that they would choose to attend Mass on the Sundays of Lent. It was a transformative experience, as Sarah eloquently wrote in her email. Going to Mass became an important part of their lives that fed their souls for the week ahead, as they also looked back in thanksgiving for the blessings of the past week. Often, we hear about doing things in Lent like giving up chocolate, only to look forward to eating the large chocolate bunny at Easter. For Sarah and her family, they didn’t return to their former practice but found an encounter with Jesus Christ and God’s love in the people of the Church who embraced them. They not only wanted to keep coming, but they were ready for another step in faith.
Because of the transformative experience of attending Mass in Lent, Sarah asked several questions in her email. She wrote about Jack and Henry who had never been baptized, and asked how they could receive the sacrament. She wrote about Brad, who was Catholic but had never received the sacrament of confirmation, and she wondered how he could receive the sacrament. Sarah wrote about herself and how she was baptized Lutheran but now wanted to be received into the Catholic Church as well as receive the sacrament of confirmation.
The email sparked a series of processes that included meetings over many weeks with Sarah and Brad to talk more about the Church and our beliefs as Catholics. For Jack and Henry, it meant an age-appropriate process for them toward the waters of baptism.
In September of last year, I had the honor of blessing Sarah and Brad’s marriage on their 13th wedding anniversary. In October, I was able to receive Sarah into the Catholic Church and celebrate the sacrament of confirmation for both Sarah and Brad. Tears of joy flowed, and thunderous applause welcomed them as our newest members of the Church.
Accompanying Sarah and Brad were their friends Lindsey and Mike, who joined them at Mass every Sunday after a drive from a nearby suburb. As the question of godparents came up for Jack and Henry, the first choice was Lindsey and Mike since Lindsey had babysat the boys from a young age. Lindsey is Catholic and Mike is Lutheran, so we talked about how this could all be possible. We learned that Lindsey and Mike had never had their marriage blessed, or more properly, validated, in the Church, so the question was raised: Would they want this to happen? They said, “yes!”
So, after preparation and meeting to complete the necessary paperwork and request the appropriate permissions, on a Saturday Lindsey and Mike had their marriage blessed with Sarah and Brad as witnesses. The next Sunday, Lindsey and Mike served as godparents for Jack and Henry. And now, Mike is in the process of being received into the Catholic Church!
So, with Ash Wednesday quickly approaching on March 5, the question again is asked of all of us, “What are we doing for Lent this year?” Lent calls us to open ourselves to the transformative power of the Holy Spirit, who changes lives. The experience of an email from last May reminds me of how the Holy Spirit can change not only one life, but many. Lent is an opportunity for all of us to experience the power of the Holy Spirit at work as we encounter God’s love for us. We encounter God’s love in many ways. We remember that we encounter God’s love in our going to Mass and being open to the experience. We encounter God’s love in the embrace of a community or the kind word of the person sitting in the pew behind us. We encounter God’s love in the invitation of a friend to experience the sacraments in ways that prompt us to serve our neighbors as we put faith into action in our lives. May this Lent be a time for us to be renewed in the power of the Holy Spirit, who sends each of us to be instruments of God’s love and peace to one another and to our world today.
