In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen  My brothers and sisters, we have begun our Lenten journey with the reception of the ashes, which are to remind us of the temporality of our time on earth, and above all that we are called here on earth to sanctify ourselves and to be renewed in this time, especially in our walk with Jesus Christ, striving to detach ourselves from everything that keeps us from loving Christ most perfectly. And that is why we are called during Lent to make certain practices, such as abstaining from certain things or giving up certain things, that if we detach ourselves from these things, we can also be assisted by this to detach ourselves from sin and anything that comes between us and loving God perfectly. So this is really a time of grace that God has given to us, a time of renewal, and it's a sign of God's love for us, that He wants us to use this time to grow closer to Him and to be renewed in our faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, as we reflect upon what our Lord Jesus did for us in His own passion, His suffering and death on the cross for our sins, for my sins, for our sins, giving His life for us.
And so we see that if our Lord gave so completely Himself for love of us, we can show our sorrow for our sins during this time and our desire to be ever more faithful to Him by our detaching ourselves above all from those things which offend Him and which keep us from loving Him perfectly and to really renew our spiritual life during this time that we may truly be focused on Christ and seeing that what's most important each day is that I love and follow Jesus in my life.
The season of Lent is a time of great grace for us, but its importance is, the importance of this season cannot be, we cannot say enough of how important this season is, not only for myself individually, but for the Church and the world.
And I just want to, I read this quote every year because it just strikes, it just reminds me how important this season of Lent is. Pope Benedict XIV was alarmed with the lack of this zeal for the season of Lent, and Pope Benedict XIV, when he became Pope, he addressed an encyclical letter to the bishops of the Catholic world expressing his heartfelt grief of seeing the great relaxation that was introduced among the faithful and by the faithful and the weakening of the observance of Lent amongst the faithful. And this letter is dated May the 30th, 1741, and in this book, the Pope said, “The observance of Lent is the very badge of the Christian warfare. By it, we prove ourselves not to be enemies of the cross of Christ. By it, we avert the scourges of divine justice. By it, we gain strength against the princes of darkness, for it shields us with heavenly help. Should mankind grow remiss in their observance of Lent, it would be a detriment to God's glory, a disgrace to the Catholic religion, and a danger to Christian souls. Neither can it be doubted, but that such negligence would become the source of misery to the world, a public calamity and private woe.”  And so he's stressing how important the season of Lent is in its observance. And so this was being recorded by Dom Guéranger, who died in 1875, who was a French abbot, a Benedictine abbot. And he's writing now, “More than 100 years have elapsed since this vicar of Christ wrote this warning. And during this time, the relaxation has gradually been increasing. And must there not result from this ever-growing spirit of immortification a general effeminacy of character, which will lead at last to frightful social disorders? The sad prediction of Pope Benedict XIV are but too truly verified. Those nations among whose people the spirit and practice of penance are extinct are heaping against themselves the wrath of God and provoking His divine justice to destroy them by one or another of these scourges, civil discord or conquests. No, the word of God is too plain, unless we do penance, we shall perish.”  And so my brothers and sisters, this time of Lent is truly an important time for us to obtain God's mercy for not only for ourselves, but for the world by our sincere desire to atone for our sins and the sins of the world. May we see this as a time of grace in which we prepare ourselves for Christ's victory over death and sin, and may we ask Our Lady to accompany us in this holy season to keep our hearts ever more firmly united to her Son, Jesus Christ.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.