First Sunday of Lent

March 1, 2009

We are now in the first week of Lent, a 40-day penitential season in the Church marked by an increase of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It is the season to prepare ourselves to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus.

In today’s Gospel, we hear of Jesus’ preparation for his ministry by living in the desert for forty days. The desert was a place where he was tempted by Satan, but it was also a place where he encountered God the Father. Many times in our lives, we find ourselves in a desert experience where the presence of God makes our burdens bearable. In today’s first reading, we have the biblical account of Noah’s flood and the destruction of all living things. After the flood, God offered Noah a covenant to assure us that God will be with us always. Every time we participate in our Eucharistic Thanksgiving, we renew our response to God’s covenantal offering.

It is good for us to fully celebrate Lent – to walk with the Lord as he suffered for our behalf. We can join Jesus in the journey of good news that leads to Easter! But first, we are to embrace the Cross that leads to our salvation.

Rite of Election

In the local Church, Bishop Malone celebrated the Rite of Election in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception today to welcome in those who are preparing for the Easter sacraments. Catechumens will be baptized as Catholic Christians and Candidates are from other Christian traditions that are joining the Catholic Church. Please pray for the four individuals in the Cheverus community who are making preparations to join the Catholic faith.

Lenten Weekdays

This week, we honor Katherine Drexel (Tuesday), a Philadelphia heiress who founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to work among African- and Native Americans. On Wednesday we honor Casimir, a prince of Poland who was renowned for his sense of justice and his care for the poor in government affairs. On Saturday we pray with the intercessions of Perpetua and Felicity who were arrest in North Africa because they were catechumens and died because they would not renounce their faith.

KAIROS

On Tuesday, thirty students will begin the 14th KAIROS retreat – a four day prayer program for high school students based on the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. This is a powerful time of reflection and prayer, so please pray with us for the students and adult leaders who make this retreat.

Novena of Grace in Honor of Francis Xavier

Jesuits and their colleagues worldwide will begin a Novena of Grace in honor of Francis Xavier, one of the founding Jesuits who was missioned to the Far East and the Indies . This nine-day period of prayer was instituted in gratitude for the canonization of Xavier and Ignatius of Loyola in 1622. We will pray the novena in our daily Masses each day from March 4th to March 12th. Please join us in prayer. The Novena is imbedded below.



Lord God, our Father, we honor the memory of the Apostle of the East, St. Francis Xavier. The remembrance of the favors with which You blessed him during life and of his glory after death, fills us with joy; and we unite with him in offering to You our sincere tribute of thanksgiving and of grace.We ask You to grant us, through his powerful intercession, the inestimable blessings of living and dying in the state of grace. We also ask You to grant us the favors we seek in this novena.

(Pause for personal petitions)

But if what we ask is not for the glory of God and the good of our souls, grant us, we pray, what is more conducive to both. We ask this through Christ our Lord.Amen.

Closing Prayer

Almighty God, by the preaching of St. Francis Xavier You won many peoples to Yourself. Give his zeal for the faith to all who believe in You, that Your Church may rejoice to see the virtue and number of the faithful increase throughout the world. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.