Dear friends,

The church today’s looks quite different from last Sunday when we celebrated Lunar New Year.

The statues look like mommies or cocoons wrapped up in black laces. The color purple conveys a sense of sadness together with a a sense of getting back to the essentials.

The church would like us to focus on matters that are important. To do this she uses the language of symbolism: ashes, crosses, purple etc. We no longer will sing the Alleluia; we keep it for Easter Night.

We use many symbols, at times without understanding them. We need them to express what is difficult or impossible to be put into words. For Valentine’s Day we used cards, hearts, red roses, chocolates to express, in a physical manner a reality otherwise invisible called love. Symbol come from Greek for: syn (Together) ballein (cast or unite) that it: to unite a visible reality, for example the smoke of the incense, to an invisible one i.e prayer.

1. The word “Religion” comes  from Latin religio, re (again) legare (unite) to unite once more together. Or re-legere (read again thoroughly) the commands of God.
2. the black laces covering the statues: we are bound by our frailty and like a caterpillar we await for the moment when we will be turned into beautiful butterflies.
3. The empty cross: is our cross, the one that crushes us under its weight but which can be transformed into a bridge uniting us with God.
4. The empty vase at the foot of the cross: Our silent supplication to God in front of whom we stand as broken vases. Man is born broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is the glue.
5. The nails, crown of thorns, the jug of water, the dices remind us of the boundless love of Jesus towards us.
6. At the entrance of the church we have displayed to word of Jesus: “Unless the grain of wheat falling to the ground dies, it will remain alone” Our false ego has to be not only wounded, but it has to die completely if the new “self” has to be born.
7. I wanted displayed everywhere what we chose as our life program:“ Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer”

We have begun this  journey with Ash Wednesday and it will continue all the way through Pentecost. Easter Sunday is at the heart of it. We shall have 40 days to prepare ourselves. We call this period of time: Lent. We shall rejoice and try to grasp the meaning of what happened at Easter during the 50 days from Easter up to Pentecost.

From the outset Lent was lived as the season of immediate preparation for Baptism, to be solemnly administered during the Easter Vigil. We, at St. Therese have been blessed by God in a very special way this year: we were given 6 adults who will become Christians during this forthcoming Easter Vigil. We want to pray for them and for ourselves.

The whole of Lent was a journey towards this important encounter with Christ. This journey is not a physical one: from one point to a different one, rather it is a spiritual one: from one mode of being to a different one. I’d like to say: from the false “ego” to our real self; from what is visible to what is invisible.

Jung, the psychoanalyst wrote: “Who looks outside dreams. Who looks inside, wakes”. Now that the Chinese New Year celebrations are over, we’d like to start our Lenten  journey seriously.

More than a few of us have given some thought to how we’re going to celebrate this holy season. A lot of us will take an easy way out and just renew the Lenten penance that we did last year...and the year before...and the year before that.

Often we come to the end of Lent no better than we were at the beginning. Our Lenten discipline is far from this strict.  The Muslim Lent during the “holy month of Ramadan” (Muslims do not eat or drink anything during the day. Some they don’t even swallow the saliva, and this for 29 days) and the “Buddhist Lent of three months are far stricter than our “Lenten Season”.

The meaning of sacrifice has become diluted. For a child, a sacrifice might be to go without a video game for a day or two. Adults might give up a little candy or beverage.

How will we get ready for Lent? Will anything be signifi­cantly different in our lifestyle during the forty days of Lent?

Benedict XVI proposes that Lent be a time to fast from words and images, and to create a space for silence He said: "Lent should be a time of fasting from words and images, because we need a little silence, a little space, without being constantly bombarded with images. We need to create spaces of silence."

My experience tells me that if we are serious about this period we shall realize from personal experience how the devil never disturbs the slumber of those who belong to him already, but fight back toot-an-nails- against those who are awake and intend to do seriously.

At times we feel such a confusing interior turmoil exactly when we would expect more peace that we are puzzled. I was never beset by so many temptations as when I wanted to start a serious Lenten Season.

We are not alone: Christ defeated   the devil in the desert and it will do it in us also.

I would suggest beginning this season with a sincere Confession and giving to God a tithe of the many blessings received. By tithe I don’t mean money, but something more difficult and more precious to us. We could give part of our time back to Him through the service of the church. One parish is very small and it counts on the presence and dedication of all. There is no room for laidback people. You can help as an usher, catechist, translator, singer and reader. You could join us in the cleaning of the church on Saturday. Working together is fun and makes a difference. Happy Lenten Season