Migrants on the Way Home: An Invitation to Our Lenten Journey
This Wednesday, February 18th, we begin the holy season of Lent with Ash Wednesday. I warmly invite you to join us for one of our three services: 6:30 AM, 8:30 AM, or 7:00 PM. As we receive ashes on our foreheads, we hear the ancient words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” or “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” These are words of humility and hope, calling us back to what matters most.
Lent gives us forty days to journey more closely with Christ toward the joy of Easter. It is a season of conversion, a time to slow down and make room for God in the midst of our busy lives. I encourage you to consider joining us for daily Mass during Lent at 6:30 AM or 8:30 AM. Even one or two mornings a week can become a beautiful anchor for your day, centering you in Christ before the demands of life take over.
The Church gives us three ancient practices for this journey: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These are not meant to be burdens. They are gifts that free us from what holds us back and open our hearts to God and neighbor. Prayer draws us into deeper conversation with the Lord. Fasting teaches us to recognize what we truly hunger for. And almsgiving turns our hearts outward toward those in need.
Pope Leo XIV, in his first Lenten message, “Listening and Fasting: Lent as a Time of Conversion,” beautifully encourages us to rediscover the practice of fasting. He writes that “abstaining from food is an ancient ascetic practice that is essential on the path of conversion.” He explains that fasting helps us recognize what we truly hunger for and what we consider necessary for our lives. It frees us from complacency and expands our desire so that it is directed toward God and doing good. The Holy Father also invites us to practice what he calls “an unappreciated form of abstinence: that of refraining from words that offend and hurt our neighbor.” What a powerful Lenten practice that would be for all of us! Let us begin by disarming our language, avoiding harsh words and rash judgment, especially in our families, at work, on social media, and in our parish community.
Pope Leo also reminds us that fasting must be lived in faith and humility, rooted in communion with the Lord. It is not about willpower alone but about creating space for God’s word to take root in our hearts. He encourages parishes, families, and communities to undertake this Lenten journey together, emphasizing that listening to God’s word and fasting go hand in hand.
One of the most beautiful images from Pope Leo’s teaching, drawing on his beloved Saint Augustine, is that we are all migrants in this journey of life. Our true homeland is in the City of God. Augustine reminds us that the Christian life is a kind of pilgrimage, but it is more than that. We are like migrants seeking a homeland we have never seen, and yet, when we arrive, we will know it is home. If we can hold this truth in our hearts, then everything here takes on a different perspective. Our possessions, our comforts, our anxieties, all of it is passing. We are travelers together, journeying toward the God who awaits us with open arms.
This understanding changes how we see one another. If we are all migrants, then we journey together as the People of God, caring for one another along the way. As Augustine beautifully taught, the City of God is a community of migrants, a caravan of souls making their way home together. The cross of Christ is the raft that carries us across the sea of this world to our true homeland. This Lent, God invites us to let go of distractions and anxieties, to throw overboard whatever keeps us from making room for Christ.
So as we begin this sacred season, I invite you to take it one day at a time. Come to Ash Wednesday. Consider daily Mass, even occasionally. Pray a little more. Fast with intention. Give with generosity. Disarm your language. And remember: we are not walking alone. We are migrants journeying together toward the joy of Easter and the homeland that is God. Learn more about Lent at St. Simon here
God Bless,
Fr. Brendan