The Color Purple

Lent is a very special season of our Church year. Beginning with Ash Wednesday, these six weeks leading up to Holy Week are a time in which our parish essentially goes on retreat together.  Every Friday during Lent is a day of abstinence from meat (beef or poultry) to remind us of the coming Passion of Our Lord. .  Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are marked out as days of both fasting and abstinence – we limit ourselves to one full meal on these days. We choose to mark these forty days in a way very similar to Jesus who placed himself voluntarily in the desert to pray and fast and reflect on his coming work (Mt. 4:1-11). Traditionally, we make our retreat by choosing a personal practice of prayer, fasting, or almsgiving. Many Catholics choose to do a little something in all three categories!  These are a way of uniting ourselves to Jesus in prayer. As a constant reminder, we wrap ourselves in purple (violet), the color of sorrow, penitence, and preparation. May you be blessed with forty days of rich prayer, reflection on your sinfulness before God, and the color purple. - - - Fr. Jim