In his Ash Wednesday homily, Pope Francis said the time of Lent is a call to leave hypocrisy behind and reconcile with God through fasting, charity and prayerful tears before our merciful Father. “I ask you a question: do I cry? Does the Pope cry? Do cardinals cry? Do bishops cry? Do consecrated men and women cry? Do priests cry?” the Pope said during his Feb. 18 Ash Wednesday Mass. Pope Francis is asking a lot of us this Lenten season. Are you ready to leave hypocrisy behind? That alone will take a lot of critical self-reflection and work. It may very well, as the Pope asks, make you cry. Feeling sorrowful is usually a good process but living through it can be very hard. I look to the heroes of the Bible like Joseph and his brothers. Joseph was placed in very difficult situations beginning with his brothers jealousy which led him to be sold into slavery, jailed and eventually to become one of the kings most trusted advisers. Joseph's perseverance is a great model because he never lost his faith. He trusted our God to carry him through the difficult times. I am sure Joseph cried many times over the course of his life. We know his father wept when he thought Joseph was dead. We know Joseph's brother cried when he thought Joseph would repay his anger and cruelty with vengeance. So God uses these situation to sharpen us and make us better warriors for Christ. The Pope asks us to fast as well. The beginning of a fasting period is usually the worst but the middle part of the process is where I usually receive the most blessing. I will not lie and say I enjoy fasting but it is a great way to purify yourself and pray with your entire self. So as we encounter the first Friday of Lent 2015 we must remember the basics like not eating meat to show our willingness to fast but more importantly we want to focus on charity. How will we demonstrate to the world that allowing Jesus into our lives fully makes us ready to change the world?
Kurt Hilgefort, is a Catholic father of six who publishes his thoughts on his blog Shadows of Augustine . He responded to my seven question survey with the following answers. Kurt is the first layperson to respond to the seven question survey and I think that his experience is extremely relevant to me personally and I hope that you are inspired by his thoughts as well. If you would like to respond, please send an email to fellmananthony@gmail.com with your thoughts and I will be happy to publish them as well. 1. What is the biggest challenge to your faith that you have faced so far? The biggest challenge for me has been the whole dying to self thing. On an intellectual level, there are no barriers. It comes down to a matter of accepting the authority of the Church that Christ founded upon Peter. My challenge is not in the intellect, but rather in the will. The challenge for me has always been to continually seek conversion. I want to be transformed, but I want it to be over all ...
