March 7

Weekend Bulletin
Children’s Bulletin

Deacon’s Digest
The What and the Why...

Throughout Lent, it’s essential to more deliberately practice the essentials brought up in the Ash Wednesday Gospel - PRAYER, FASTING, AND ALMSGIVING. This is the “what”. Naturally, we are supposed to practice these every day of our lives but it helps to “shift them into high gear” during the Lenten Season. We can do that by:

Prayer: No matter what you do in prayer, Lent can be a time to make it more effective. By effective I mean - making a change in you.  Intercessory prayer is great but in the end, prayer is not about changing God it’s about changing us! Add something to the prayer you are already doing  - another Hail Mary, a Memorare, or just an extra minute or two of quiet time with God.

Fasting: No one likes to fast but it really is essential. The Church only asks us to fast on two days during Lent - Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. We are also supposed to abstain from meat on all Friday in Lent. But fasting from something like food or some other habit assists us in strengthening our will so we can be better at saying “no” to other things that are not good for us. Fasting “exercises” the muscles of our willpower and makes them strong enough to guide us in good and healthy ways.

Almsgiving: As you know, almsgiving is money or food or clothing or whatever that we give to the poor. We can do this by directly assisting a person in need or by helping an agency that serves the poor. In Sioux Falls that could mean gifts to the Bishop Dudley House, St Francis House, Banquet, Mother Teresa Fund, Children’s Inn, Hope Prison Ministry, or Feeding South Dakota (among many others). Almsgiving keeps us generous and always thinking about the welfare of others.

But WHY? Why do we do these things? I think it is to make us more and more the good disciples God has made us be so we can bring others back to the practice of their faith. The culture we live in today is very secular and is not always friendly to religious institutions and practices.

So - we need a different approach. We cannot engage the culture in traditional ways - just praying for others and hoping things will change. This culture calls for witnesses! People who are filled with the joy, hope, and love of Jesus Christ so completely that others will want what they have. These are people who pray, fast, and give and in doing so become more Christ-like every day.

How about you? Are your Lenten practices resulting in renewed faith, hope, and love?  If not, make a change TODAY.