No worry about “empty nets” at this fish fry.

Tired of running around to local television stations and emotionally exhausted from watching the events of this week unfold, I thought it time to get out and connect with the daily and real life of the Church yesterday. Many of our parishes have started or continue the custom of having Friday Night Fish Fries for the parishioners and one of the more successful in this area has been running at St. Timothy parish in Lutz. When a friend told me that last Friday night they served an all-time high of 464 people, like the unbelieving Thomas I had to see for myself. So last night for dinner, off I went to the Friday Night Fish Fry. Father Ken Malley met me with his ever-present smile on his face and took me into the woefully inadequate (for this event) parish hall.

This works is both an inside job and an outside job!

I met the members of the Men’s Club, all forty of them, dicing and slicing, frying and serving, filling and refilling. To my utter amazement, they were having a great time. By opening time at 530pm the hungry masses were assembled and by closing time at 730pm, this week about 445 were served fried fish, french fries (the best I have had anywhere and I fancy myself a connoisseur of fries), huge pizza slices for the kids or a big kid like myself who really doesn’t like fish all that much, cole slaw, a shrimp cocktail appetizer and an appropriate veggie. Father Malley was proud of this Lenten event and mentioned that it was a great “feeder” (no pun intended) for the weekly Stations of the Cross at 700pm.

An apprentice “fish man” and one of the several women who help their husbands.

The Saint Timothy Men’s Club has about ninety active members and the parish Women’s Club is also quite large. What amazes me are the number of younger men who belong and gift their time and talent to events like this. I met Jason for the second time last night. He approached me and said we had met several weeks prior and while I struggled to place the face with a moment in my life, he generously said that he came up with the parish at the Rite of Election as a “candidate” coming into the Church at the Easter Vigil. After I told him he did not miss any time in joining the Men’s Club of a religion he was not yet a member of, he smiled and said simply, “I love it here.” He then shared with me his journey in faith story which has led him to Catholicism and that his wife is also a convert. He introduced me to his sponsor in the RCIA whom he had never met prior to approaching the parish and asking to join this year’s list of candidates for full communion. His sponsor said, as many do, that he felt he had gotten as much out of the catechetical formation moment as Jason and they would be lifelong friends. Both wanted to extract a promise from me that neither Father Malley nor Deacon Jerry Crall would be transferred away from St. Tim’s. At this moment I was very happy that I am in the Diocese of St. Petersburg and not in Rome. What happens here is so real and so meaningful, even a fish fry.

Smiles reflect their happiness at the task at hand.

The purpose of the Friday night fish fry is not to make huge sums of money for the parish, though there is always a profit from each of these evenings but it seems to me that the real purpose is creating a sense of unity and pride among the workers and those who come for their parish. Now I understand why parishes have carnivals during Lent. I am sure that they wish it might fall outside of Lent but these are probably the only weeks that the owner of the ferris wheel and merry-go-round have available and although such a good time seems contra the spirit of Lent, it can be and is exactly the opposite. If we are united with Christ in his suffering (and God knows we are indeed), then we can also be united with him as a community which pauses to pray and review its life and rejoice in our common desire to form a family in faith. There is indeed a place for these things in our parish life, even during Lent. Some might complain that real penance would better be served by offering an opportunity for bread and watered down soup. If it works, fine. But the spirit I witnessed last night and often see in other parishes in so many ways when they gather for Lent in other ways indicates a reality of unity which our Church badly needs.

I guess in the end, the people who fried the fish and the potatoes serve God as well as those who will gather in coming days to elect a new Pope. Unfortunately it is the latter which garners all the attention and the former and other good things which our Church does as Church is so often overlooked. Thanks to St. Timothy’s last night. I still have one carnival in a nearby parish to attend as well as one auction at the parish within which I live to go to before Palm Sunday. Once I might have considered my presence there a Lenten penance but more and more I find grace at fish fries, fries and Ferris wheels.

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I am certain that almost every serious Catholic has spent the run-up this week to Ash Wednesday thinking about “Super” Monday. Here I use the word “super” only to emphasize the magnitude of the news to which we awakened some forty-eight hours ago. Pope Benedict’s momentous decision to stand down from his office of Pope later this month  commanded almost all of my energy Monday as I raced from one local TV station to another, answered phone calls and mail from friends and others, and had dinner with about twenty-six young men interested enough in a vocation to priesthood to come with their parish priests to dinner with the bishop (this latter group was full of good questions showing an interest in things ”Churchy” that I found quite surprising.) As a consequence the time I would usually devote to preparing myself spiritually for Lent which began this morning was seriously encroached upon by the news coming from Rome and around the world.

Distributing ashes during the Ash Wednesday Mass at St. Petersburg Catholic High School. Photo courtesy of Maria Mertens. View more photos by clicking here. 

Only last night, after coming home from my final confirmation for seven weeks (in this diocese we do not confirm during Lent), dead tired and knowing that I had my traditional Mass with the students of St. Petersburg Catholic High School this morning for Ash Wednesday in just a few hours, I retired to my chapel for some quiet time. It occurred to me that the three principal actions of Lent are all to be found in some way in Pope Benedict’s brave and humble decision. If fasting reflects sacrifice, imagine walking away in a few days from one of the world’s remaining spotlights. Even our critics acknowledge the continuing presence of the papacy and its influence in much of the world. While some might wish to write Popes off as irrelevant, they can not. Pope Benedict’s highly successful pastoral visits to Great Britain, to use only one example, showed that a politically neutral moral voice still has a role to play in the public square. This Holy Father can retire into the “wings” confident that he has made a difference. So he soon begins a life time fast of giving up the “spotlight” as you will, which has been his and watching the attention which remains with the office to come to his successor.

Pope Benedict has twice including this morning in his General Audience mentioned that he looks forward to spending his remaining days in prayer for the Church and (I am sure) for himself. During Lent we are all encouraged to look for more opportunities of communicating with our Lord in prayer. When Jesus grew weary and tired, the Gospels all tell us that he often went off to a “quiet place” to be alone in prayer. The Holy Father has chosen the same path in withdrawing from the glare of leadership of the Church and will spend his remaining time on earth praying for the Church, for us. In some ways, it would  not miss the mark too much to say that life will be one long Lent for Pope Benedict.

Finally, the thought occurred to me that in the challenge of “almsgiving” which is also a part of our Lent observance, there are many ways in which we can place ourselves at the service of others. Giving m0ney is one way but not the only way. It may come as a surprise to many, but the popes of the modern era are not rich men. I doubt if they ever receive a salary and while it is also true that they receive what they need to live and maintain a modest household, there is no such possibility as accumulated wealth derived from the papacy. They live simply in what I believe is incorrectly called a “palace” (sometimes “prison” would be a better word), spend a lot of their day seeing people and having little time for themselves, constantly preparing public statements, greetings, encyclical letters which have to be delivered within the next 24 hours, week or month. Benedict took time out from his little leisure time to write three wonderful books on Jesus of Nazareth, pure gifts – alms of another kind. He did not so much receive as a result of the office he held, but “spent” himself for us.

The Light Is on for YOU

So, in these special forty days beginning today, each of us has an opportunity to join ourselves to him in the practice of this Lent by making more time for prayer, giving up something we hold precious but which might no longer be essential (at least for the next six weeks) and sharing our gifts, talents, selves with others even if we do not have the means to share “alms.” During Lent, giving of our “arms” can be just as fulfilling as giving of our “alms.” In  his final, humble and extraordinary gifting of himself, all of us can find something which we can do to make this Lent special. Confession and reconciliation are also essential and your parish will be having many opportunities for receiving the sacrament in the coming weeks, what with Penance Services and for the fifth year in a row, on Thursday, March 7th, “This Light is on for YOU” during which all our parishes will be open and priests available to hear your confession from 5pm until 7pm. Find out more information about “The Light Is on for YOU” by clicking here.

Lent 2013 begins with historic significance but at the personal level, the possibilities of turning away from sin and returning to the Gospel are even more awesome.

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I had the occasion earlier this week to meet with about fifty of the parochial vicars which is our fancy or canonical term for “associate pastors”. The next day a similar number of priests gathered together again, this time for an Lenten moment of reconciliation and reflection. During the first, I outlined for my brother priests the results of my nine luncheon meetings with their pastors which I previously held from mid-January through the first week of February. The purpose of those meetings was to discuss a possible major appeal for funding for the education of our future priests (with our blessed numbers this year we are paying about $1.6 million out of operations funds for seminary education alone) and saving Catholic schools that are salvagable. However, I am off the point I want to make here.

The “mother of all ecclesial blogs” (aka “Whispers in the Loggia“) in commenting on the annual Rite of Election held nationwide either on or near the First Sunday of Lent made note of the fact that for every adult Catholic who enters the Church in a year, four leave the Church. I, for one, do not dispute his numbers and the second statistic which he cited and one that has been around long enough to also be verifiable is that the second largest Christian denomination in the United States behind Roman Catholics is “fallen-away” Roman Catholics (an estimated thirty million). Some of my brother priests seemed shocked or at least surprised at these numbers and we began a short discussion of why and what might we do as priests, diocese, Church to reverse these alarming numbers.

Obviously with fifty per-cent of Catholics in the US who marry and get divorced, it was suggested and I suspect that this may be a major reason for Church losses. Try as hard as we might to convince people that divorce does not mean automatically cut off from the sacraments and/or out of the church, it’s still out there. Second, we hold and teach some things which the current climate opposes: abortion, the death penalty, euthanasia, “mercy”-killing, marriage as a sacrament between a man and a woman, immigration reform, every marital act must be open to the procreation of children, universal access to health care as a “right” not just a privilege if one can pay for it – issues the larger society, the media, political parties,  love to hammer us on. They would call these antiquated and antediluvian notions and who wants to own, drive and ride in a Model T Ford when something faster, sleeker, more modern can be had? Sometimes I am amazed and grateful to God and to many in the Church that we have the membership and practicing numbers we have, given the constant bombardment we are all subjected to. I also believe that the sexual-abuse of children and how it was handled by bishops and the Church at large has given many people an excuse to leave us and some indeed have.

We just finished the initial push of the “Catholics Come Home®” campaign. In the week following the publication or reading of my letter on the Health and Human Services regulations, I received a comment from a gentleman who said that he and his wife had been many years away from the Church and they returned as a result of the television commercials on the Sunday my letter was read. They left again and he assured me that we would never see the two of them. That hurt, believe me. But to be a Catholic today, to practice the faith fully beyond just week-end Church attendance, one has to embrace a lot of things that might be different were we in charge (for example, “like the dewfall”). Believe me that even being a Catholic all my life, there are aspects of the faith which I must struggle with but in the end I place my trust in the magisterial teaching and without the hierarchical governance structure, Christ’s Church today would be in far worse shape than the numbers above indicate. There is nothing I can find in Sacred Scripture, especially the Gospels, that suggests Christ wanted to establish a democracy. But Christ did want his leaders, his disciples, to also be good listeners and respond to the legitimate needs of His people with understanding, compassion and care.

An adult baptism at the Easter Vigil 2011 in the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle. Photo kindness of Walter C. Pruchnik III

So even if the First Sunday of Lent resulted in a zero sum gain or less, it is still encouraging given the things we often hear said about us that annually a good number of adults, families and youth  still seek baptism or full communion. It is not a numbers game we engage in, but the continuation of timeless truth, free from error, fulfilling Christ’s command to go forth and make disciples. It was tough in his time. It was tougher in the time of the early Church. It is tough today. But, so what? It seems  it has ever been thus and two-thousand years of history behind us seems to suggest that it is precisely at moments of trial and tribulation that our beloved Church does best and begins to flourish anew.

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The Abbey Church at St. Leo Monastery

Last Sunday night I celebrated the student liturgy at St. Leo University and confirmed six of their members and offered First Eucharist to one. First let me begin by saying that it was a lovely liturgy and they had a roughly ten person choir who provided very appropriate and beautiful music for the liturgy. Father Stephan Brown, S.V.D. is in charge of Campus Ministry and invited me to be with his community. Normally I do not ever confirm during Lent but I made an exception this time at Father Brown’s request since Easter falls so late and there are only ten days of sch0ol left at St. Leo after the Easter break.

The liturgy on Sunday night took place in the Abbey Church although it usually occurs in a room at the student union. I suspect that St. Leo had a large share of students who go home on week-ends because they live so close to the University. Attendance of students at this liturgy was not large and the fact that Sunday Eucharist is celebrated in the Board Room of the student union indicates the challenges inherent in a campus ministry program for a school such as this.

St. Leo University has grown significantly in the last twenty-five years, for the first ten or eleven under the leadership of Monsignor Frank Mouch and for the last thirteen under the current president, Dr. Arthur Kirk, Jr. While its residential program on campus numbers about 2000 traditional four-year students, its outreach through distance learning and programs on military bases makes St. Leo about the fifteenth or sixteenth largest Catholic university in the nation.

I know a lot of graduates of our high schools who attend St. Leo and love it. They are certain that they are getting a first rate education for life after college and the graduates students are grateful for for the opportunities afforded them as well. It’s local, it’s Catholic, it’s educationally sound. – all good things. Soon they will dedicate a new building housing the School of Business and the campus has experienced such growth that it is impossible for me to locate a single picture which does the whole justice. St. Leo Prep which preceded St. Leo College which preceded St. Leo University was for many years an apostolic work of the Benedictine monks of St. Leo Abbey. A number of years ago the title and ownership of the college was turned over to basically a lay board of trustees who have taken bold ownership while still remaining committed to the Benedictine spirit and tradition of ora et labora, or “prayer and work.” Another part of the Benedictine spirit from their founder is that of hospitality and it was certainly in evidence on Sunday night. Congratulations to the confirmandi, to the campus ministry and peer ministry program and to all who keep the light of Saint Benedict and his sister Saint Scholastica alive.

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Did you notice how long you were standing for the Gospel this past Sunday? Hopefully not as you were most likely engrossed in the long dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well – in fact, the longest dialogue in all four Gospels between Jesus and any one person. Next week prepare yourself for a second long Gospel, the curing of the man born blind and in two weeks perhaps the longest until Palm Sunday (and the reading of the Passion according to Matthew) which will be the wonderful story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. The Church chooses these Gospels and they are often used every year in conjunction with the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults because they serve as a “triptik” (the old AAA words for the spiral bound road maps between two points or destinations) for those coming into the Church through baptism and confirmation and first Eucharist. If I were to pick one word for each of the areas where the first five Gospels of Lent take us, they would be in ascending order: temptation, epiphany, conversion, faith, and new life. We are now well past the half way mark between Ash Wednesday and the start of the Sacred Triduum of Holy Week on Holy Thursday.

The Church reminds us that we will all from time to time face temptation from the evil one and how we respond to these temptations is crucial. Jesus was not moved by the offer of power, domination, ownership. Jesus 1 – Devil 0. As he began his journey to Jerusalem and immediately following the scolding of Peter, Jesus takes his three closest friends up to the top of Mount Tabor and once again his divinity is made manifest. We are told to “listen to Him”. Jesus 1 – Three Apostles 0. Last Sunday among the many themes flowing from that well in Samaria that day was a call to conversion, to turn away from sin, and drink of the waters of living life. Jesus 1 – Disciples 0. Next week, the blind man asks for a favor, a healing, and his request is granted but there are still many who are in disbelief. The Gospel indicates that there is still time to sign on to the legion of Christ and make the journey with him. Jesus 1-witnesses to the miracle 0. And if we need any proof of the opportunity for redemption and resurrection with faith in Jesus brings, Lazarus. Jesus 1 - those still refusing to believe he is the long awaited Messiah 0. Jesus advances to top seed in the final four (Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil/Easter Sunday.

The three Gospel stories (Sunday, next Sunday and the following Sunday) all come from John’s Gospel and they exemplify so well the dualism found there between the Gospel of Light and the Gospel of Darkness. Listen carefully next Sunday and the following one to illusions as to light and darkness and draw your own conclusions as to which world you are living in. Time is a’wasting but if we listen to the words of Jesus this week and act on them, what a glorious Easter awaits us.

If you are desirous of emerging from the darkness of sin and/or guilt this Lent, Thursday may be just your lucky night. For the third year running, every Catholic Church in the diocese will be open and priests will be hearing confessions in each from five until eight p.m. Our priests are very desirous of making confession available to you during this Lenten season and they show their desire in three ways: the regular hours for confession in each parish church, the Lenten Penance Services which will be starting up in each parish soon and this unique and special opportunity for you this Thursday. Designed to make it easy for the busy person to stop by on the way home from work, the embarrassed person to have a chance to confess their sins in a place and to a person who is highly unlikely to know them, the harried parent who finds the Saturday hours impossible between dropping off and rooting for their children at sports, dance, gymnastics, etc., or catching up with chores around the house arising from another busy week, the lights of our churches will be left on and you are most welcome. Like the father who welcomes his profligate son home, try us again, you will like us. Most of all you will feel and revel in the healing touch of Christ. Thanks, dear brother priests, for the gift of your time and the treasure of your love and and extension of God’s forgiveness.

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For the last ten years or so, it has been my custom to offer a Lenten Mission to parishes, which approach and ask me to do it. Last year because of my longer than expected recovery, I did not give any missions and I had promised Saint Catherine of Siena in Largo that I would. So this past weekend, I finally made good on my word and showed up. Let me begin by saying that I am not a “mission preacher” in the any sense of that word. Mission preachers do it about forty weeks of the year and travel throughout the country. They have a set presentation and a more generous approach than I am able to give. I preached at all the Masses this past weekend at St. Catherine to “warm” the congregation up and encourage them to attend the mission sessions on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Typical mission preachers will also give sessions in the morning as well as the evening. I am unable to do that because of the demands of my usual day job.

But in addition to the Sunday Masses, I did share some of my insights into our faith with the people who came on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. At each parish they choose a different context in which I preached.  At St. Catherine of Siena on Monday night, Father Ken Malley the pastor asked if I would give the mission talk within the context of Mass, on Tuesday within the context of Evening Prayer, and on Wednesday night with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament following the talk. My evening talks usually run between thirty and forty minutes maximum so we try to have everyone in and out in just a little over an hour. The mind can only absorb what the “tush” can take.

For the past couple of years I have been using the triple themes of our Eucharistic Initiative, “gathered, nourished and sent” but within the context of the theological virtues of faith, hope and love. Or to put it another way, how can we live in Christ amid the challenges of daily living. The Gospel account of the Transfiguration was a great place to start this mission week off with the voice from the cloud saying so clearly, “listen to Him” (Jesus that is, not necessarily Lynch). Saint Catherine’s already had underway a parish commitment to “we believe, we remember, we celebrate” so I was also able to incorporate these ideas into my presentations as well.

On the final night of the mission, I offered myself to those who wish to stay at its conclusion and ask me any questions they might have: about the content of my talks, the Church in general, the diocese or the future of the faith. There has been good feedback from that opportunity to “Ask the Bishop.”

The attendance at the missions, which I already have given, has been quite good and I find that I often receive far more than I give to these occasions. Bishops are quite good at “one night stands”, like parish confirmations, but to be present and to share faith, hope and love for five days is a unique and, for me, very satisfying experience. Since this week was a “catch-up” experience from 2010, I will be giving a second parish (or the 2011) mission at St Ignatius of Antioch in Tarpon Springs, beginning on April 2, 2011 and in 2012 I will be at St. Cecilia in Clearwater and at St. Lawrence in Tampa in 2013, God willing.

At least the priests and deacons were listening! The two photos are through the kindness of parishioner Elaine Luker.

I was sorry last night to end my time with the faith community of St. Catherine of Siena who had received me so well.  As I said earlier, in the time just before the mission and as people were leaving, their stories of their faith journeys and the challenges of daily living would put my life to shame. There are a lot of holy people in this Church of ours. Thanks to Father Ken Malley and everyone at this wonderful parish in Largo for a great mission.

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The Gospel reading for the First Sunday of Lent is always about the trip into the desert by Jesus immediately after his Baptism by John in the Jordan and Satan’s temptations which befell him there. I am certain that the Church wishes us to hear these readings year after year in order that we might enter into some kind of desert experience ourselves throughout these forty days. Deserts that I have known are barren, forbidding and foreboding places where one cannot escape the heat of the day or the chill of the night. There is little to admire and much to fear in crossing a desert. It is boring and easily can give way to hallucinations and anxiety. I doubt if even Jesus was totally comfortable in his desert experience but he could not have found a place more free of distractions to pray at the beginning of his ministry.

For many of us, we need not physically go to a desert to have a “desert experience” and we certainly don’t have to physically relocate to experience temptations to evil, to profound doubt, to deep distrust. The evil one who tempted Jesus still tempts us when we aspire to greater wealth and jealousy of those who have it. The evil one still tempts us when he fills us with unholy ambition that might suggest we walk all over someone else to get something that we want. The evil one still tempts us when he invites us to positions of power and prestige whose methodology of attainment is not that of God.

There are even temptations alive which can right now affect our lives of faith and in the Church. Let me enumerate just a few: (a) the Church is corrupt and I do not need it any more to gain my salvation; (b) I don’t need a human much less a priest to whom I will confess my sins and therefore I choose to go directly to God; (c) the Eucharist is  just a memorial, nothing changes so I sure don’t need to go every Sunday; (d) who needs God? I sure don’t. These temptations are not products of my own too fertile imagination but rather are fairly common in our Church today. At the end of it all, the spirit of evil uses the same temptation to narcissicism as did the evil one with Jesus – it’s all about me! Jesus saw through it all and so must we. It is all about God and God’s relationship with me and me with him. There are as many temptations in the spiritual life in our personal deserts as there are stories in a naked city.

Deacon Jerry Crall calls the 454 Catechumens to be baptized, confirmed and receive First Eucharist at the Easter Vigil this year in the Rite of Election Ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle today. Photo courtesy of John Christian

People who travel through deserts, however, look for and rejoice when they come upon an oasis. Just when you think it can not get any worse, there is that cool shade, that cool water, that relief from the heat and desert temptation. I find it amazing that when the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults was instituted following the Second Vatican Council, that the Church found that as Church we just might need an oasis as we begin our Lenten experience. With all the renewed negative publicity about the Church and doubts about its leadership, some of which right now is merited it seems to me, and when one might tend to become dispirited, the Spirit gives us The Rite of Election. Today at the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle, it was my privilege to welcome  1,110 catechumens and candidates who will be received into the Church at the Easter Vigil this year. This is the highest number for this occasion in my fifteen years as bishop and quite frankly, I needed this oasis today more perhaps that those smiling and happy persons who shook my hand in the two separate ceremonies. I have several times mentioned before at this ceremony that it is second only to the ordination of priests in the happiness it brings to a bishop and his priests and deacons.

The Catechumens from Sacred Heart, Tampa, led by Father George Corrigan, OFM approach the bishop. Photo courtesy of John Christian

I know that there are many others preparing for the Easter sacraments who were unable to be at either of the two services held today and their number will make the number entering the Church even more impressive. Sixty-nine of our seventy-seven parishes and missions were present and the Cathedral was full with about 1,200 people at the 2:00pm and 4:30pm celebrations. Some approach me with tears in their eyes and others seem so grateful for the opportunity to be welcomed by the person who will be their bishop this Spring. A good number of children were present at both ceremonies and I counted about twenty families who would be coming into the Church together – Mom and Dad and the kids. Some also came forward who I would expect will get married this Spring and Summer and wish to become Catholic prior to that special moment. As I said earlier there are many stories in the “Naked City” as the old television show used to suggest.

So, if someone was having a desert experience today and could have been with me to share the joy of this annual moment, you would have been most grateful to God for the grace which is operative and obvious in this local Church.

Candidates (already have been baptized) for full communion with the Church at the Easter Vigil come forward for a "close encounter of the first kind" with me. Photo courtesy of John Christian.

It has been my custom for more than a decade now to celebrate Ash Wednesday Mass for the St. Petersburg Catholic High School community and I did so today. Let me begin by saying that a more prayerful environment one could not ask for and the students both sang and responded to the Mass parts well (not always true of high school students). So it was a privilege to begin my Lenten journey to Holy Week once again with my neighbors to the east of the Bishop W. Thomas Larkin Pastoral Center.

I mentioned to the students that today we begin a journey which will last a number of weeks. I mentioned that throughout human history, when someone has an idea, or a concept, or something they wish to sell to others, they spend a great deal of time working on what would likely be called “brand identification.” McDonalds, when it started, began with the notion of the “Golden Arches” and when someone sees them, they do not even need to see the name, they know what those two yellow arches announce. Nike does the same thing with its “swoosh” logo – whether it is a hat, a shirt, shoes, “Nike” need not appear, just the logo or brand.

We Christians have a “brand” that no marketing department in its right mind would ever accept or suggest – a cross with a dead body hanging from it. Gruesome, ugly, terrifying, bloody – it is not a PR person’s dream nor is it a marketer’s concept. But tell me another “brand” or symbol that has endured for two thousand years, that marks one’s identity as a Catholic Christian than a cross with a corpus or body on it. It has endured because of what and who it represents rather than what it is trying to “sell.” Jesus died on the cross and thereby secured for us the best “life insurance” policy one could ask for, eternal life. Its message has outlasted the Rock of Gibraltar for Prudential, the breaching orca whale for Pacific Life. That cross on that Good Friday purchased our life, eternal life, insurance policy.

"Branding" Fr. Larry Urban, SDB, one of the Salesian priests who teaches at St. Petersburg Catholic High School.

So today on Ash Wednesday we begin our personal journey to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. We pay for our ticket for the journey by embracing prayer, fasting and charity to the poor. We prepare by denying ourselves in small ways to share in the death and resurrection of He who denied himself his very life to purchase our chance at eternal life.

When we baptize a child, what is the first thing we do? The priest or deacon and the parents and God parents “brand” the child with the sign of the cross ” By the sign of the cross the Christian community welcomes you” we say. When I confirm a person what is the main thing I do? I “brand” the confirmand with Sacred Chrism and the sign of the cross. When I administer the Sacrament of the Sick to a person, what do I do? I make the sign of the cross on their forehead and hands, “branding” them as Christians to whom Jesus is coming as healer.

I suspect I have made my point so I will close with this thought on this Ash Wednesday – today we wear the “brand” of our Christian identity in ashes on our foreheads to help us begin our Lenten journey so that in a few weeks we can reverence the real cross on Good Friday. Only God could give the world a symbol like the cross to bring us to our knees! Have a holy Lent, dear readers.

+RNL

At times it has seemed like Ash Wednesday would never arrive. With Easter this year being on the last possible date in April for it to occur, everything has been pushed back much farther into winter than usual. Last Sunday’s readings at Mass, for example, are seldom heard proclaimed due to the fact that ordinary time prior to Ash Wednesday usually goes to about six or seven weeks and then when it resumes again week eight often gets dropped in the count-down to Christ the King. Lent is a special time of grace for the Church and for Catholics. The traditional forms of observance which include prayer, fasting and sharing of blessings is often accentuated by the individual practice of “giving something up for Lent.” In my case McDonald’s stock will decline as I once again say farewell for a while to my morning sausage biscuit. Believe me, reader, for myself that is a sacrifice. All of us will abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, and the Friday’s of Lent. It is a reminder of the greater suffering which Jesus took upon Himself to enable our salvation. Fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday for those under the age of sixty is also recommended but it should not be viewed as a burden but a reminder that we too can “spend ourselves” to recall the sacrifice of Christ.. These are small little things that both help us prepare for the Easter event as well as remind us of the cost and sacrifice which led to it. We were just notified by our state Catholic Conference that the Superintendent of Florida’s Correctional Facilities (read that jails and prisons) has approved Catholic inmates this year being allowed to receive and wear ashes on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday (said permission has not always been given). How much more we who are sometimes imprisoned by the secular ideals of the age in which we live should remind ourselves on Ash Wednesday that all of us, Presidents and Popes, Kings and commoners, adults and children, were created by a loving God from ash and to ash we shall someday return. Enjoy the final week-end before Lent begins but prepare yourself to enter more deeply into the mystery, grace and holiness which these special forty days make possible. See you at daily Mass? I hope so.

+RNL