Hope in Action

Dear Friend,

In meetings over the last several months, a team of St. Barbara Parish faithful have been focusing on Adult Faith Formation. Our goal has been to develop opportunities for all of us to expand our capacities for belonging (note: the Lenten Soup Suppers) and for growth in the everyday practice of a robust faith rooted in the Gospel and reflected in compassionate service. 

Some first steps are liturgical: beginning this Sunday our lectors will proclaim a Lenten “Call to Worship” to start our Mass and at the end we will all receive a “call to action” and together pray a modified form of the Jubilee Prayer for Pilgrims of Hope. Team member Jeremy Tanlimco, reflecting on Ash Wednesday, offers the following, which I hear as a great overture for the entire Lenten Season. Thank you, Jeremy!

“Pope Francis has declared the theme of this Jubilee Year to be “Pilgrims of Hope,” and I dare say that Lent might be the perfect season for Hope. Hope is the middle sister of the Theological Virtues, and like many middle siblings, we often neglect it.

“Hope in action is patience: patience that all may be saved and that all our present struggles will ultimately fulfill this worthy goal. Hope in action is forgiveness, for we ought to forgive seven times seventy times in the hope of our transgressor’s redemption. Hope in action is mercy, and fortitude, and endurance. In Lent, we practice fasting, abstinence, and almsgiving. We do so in this abundant spirit of Christian Hope, dwelling less on the idea of giving up something for Lent and more on what we are giving, as we hear in Isaiah: 

“This is the fasting I wish: releasing those bound unjustly…Setting free the oppressed. Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless (58:5-7). “

Gratefully,

Father Dan