The Holy Season
of Lent2018
”Blow the trumpet in Zion!
Proclaim a fast.
Return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.”
Ash Wednesday, with the traditional austere rite of placing ashes on our forehead, the Church invites us to enter the season of Lent
Lent is the period 40 days dedicated in a special way to prayer, to fasting, to works of charity, to conversion, to renewal, and to the actions by which we put sin behind us and return to God.
The traditional symbol of imposing ashes on our forehead is to remind us of death, which is the effect of sin. Yet the message of Ash Wednesday does not end at reminding us of the effect of the destruction of sin. It is an earnest plea to us to be converted, and to be reconciled with God and with one another.
Dear Friends, we invite you to join us as we set out on our Lenten journey, following the example of Jesus Christ. During His life on earth He had fasted for forty days and forty nights in the desert.
Let us be determined to make a strong commitment to prayer, to make greater effort to do penance, to fast, and to perform charitable acts toward our neighbors. We do this so that we will be renewed and purified and be able to take part in the Paschal Mystery of Christ, our Redeemer and thus to share in His Resurrection.
Lent is the special season that trains us in the school of sacrifice for genuine love of God and our neighbors. May Our Blessed Virgin Mother accompany us during this Lenten journey and help us to put away the “old self“ and to “return to God” with all our heart.
May you have a spiritually fruitful Lent!
Mother Anne and your Carmelite Sisters of Terre Haute.
