Dear St. Paul Family and Friends,

Our first reading this weekend is Moses’ inspiring recollection of the journey of his people. From a wandering Aramean, their ancestors went to Egypt and became a great and strong nation. But the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed them, and imposed hard labor upon them. They cried to the Lord, never giving up their faith, and the Lord heard their affliction. He brought them out of Egypt, and gave them a land flowing with milk and honey.

In our experiences of hardships and challenges, we should remain steadfast in our faith. We should not grow tired of doing good. Pope Francis, in his Lenten Message for 2022, enumerates:

Let us not grow tired of praying. Jesus taught us to “pray always without becoming weary” (Lk 18, 1). We need to pray because we need God. Thinking that we need nothing other than ourselves is a dangerous illusion. If the pandemic has heightened the awareness of our own personal and social fragility, may this Lent allow us to experience the consolation provided by faith in God, without whom we cannot stand firm (cf. Is 7, 9). Faith does not spare us life’s burdens and tribulations, but it does allow us to face them in union with God in Christ, with the great hope that does not disappoint, whose pledge is the love that God has poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 5, 1-5).

Let us not grow tired of uprooting evil from our lives. May the corporal fasting to which Lent calls us fortify our spirit for the battle against sin. Let us not grow tired of asking for forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, knowing that God never tires of forgiving.

Let us not grow tired of fighting against concupiscence, that weakness which induces to selfishness and all evil, and finds in the course of history a variety of ways to lure men and women into sin (cf. Fratelli Tutti, 166).

Let us not grow tired of doing good in active charity towards our neighbors. During this Lent, may we practice almsgiving by giving joyfully (cf. 2 Cor 9, 7). God who “supplies seed to the sower and bread for food” (2 Cor 9, 10) enables each of us not only to have food to eat, but also to be generous in doing good to others. Lent is a favorable time to seek out – and not to avoid – those in need; to reach out – and not to ignore – those who need a sympathetic ear and a good word; to visit – and not to abandon – those who are lonely. Let us put into practice our call to do good to all, and take time to love the poor and needy, those abandoned and rejected, those discriminated against and marginalized (cf. Fratelli Tutti, 193).

“If we do not give up, we shall reap our harvest in due time,” (Gal. 6, 9) and we will be brought to that place of abundance called heaven. Amen.