Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.
Perhaps he will again relent
and leave behind him a blessing,
Offerings and libations
for the LORD, your God.
Blow the trumpet in Zion!
proclaim a fast,
call an assembly;
Gather the people,
notify the congregation;
Assemble the elders,
gather the children
and the infants at the breast;
Let the bridegroom quit his room
and the bride her chamber.
Between the porch and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep,
And say, “Spare, O LORD, your people,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
with the nations ruling over them!
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”
Then the LORD was stirred to concern for his land and took pity on his people.
Added, from a comment I made yesterday on the Mardi Gras post, in answer to a question about Mardi Gras excesses. I think part of it fits here as well.
I’m not from New Orleans, or any of the other cities across the world where Mardi Gras and Carnival are celebrated. I don’t understand the costumes or krewes or other traditions, nor how they got started. I would guess though, that their origins were not entirely without religious significance. The secular world has of course intruded, but there are deep roots underneath.
I myself hope to slay some demons of my own during the 40 days. Perhaps giving face to them now helps do that.
Here is my Catholic take, for what it is worth.
My celebration of Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras is quite simple, maybe having pancakes for supper, a few extra sweets, especially if I’m giving them up for Lent. It’s a little celebratory, clear the decks kind of day as I focus my mind on the upcoming journey I want to make with Jesus during Lent. Kind of a clear out the old, extraneous, the unnecessary, the frivolous to make room for more somber, serious, and much more worthwhile things.
From a religious standpoint, Fat Tuesday is really about Lent. I have never experienced more changed (me, inside), joy filled, grace filled Easters than I have since converting to Catholicism and learning to live by the liturgical calendar, following the life and ministry, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and the building of the Church, especially Lent and Easter.
We Christians are not meant to stand still, to tread water. We are meant to literally burst at the seems with driving, passionate, exploding growth. Lent helps us grow, pare back, trim off dead growth and condition ourselves for that growth.
Today we celebrate and appreciate all the culmination of great things the Lord has given us. Tomorrow we begin to give back in a special way some of those gifts in order to make room for more.
God is bountiful like that. The more he gives us, the more we accept and give away in turn, the more and more and more he wants to give us.
Lent is a journey where we get to know and love Jesus a little better, and to open ourselves to the true light and joy and love and hope of Easter Sunday.
If you aren’t familiar with it, and you are interested in learning more, begin with us today and follow along weekly as we journey toward the Cross and Resurrection with Jesus.
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.”
[Psalm 73:26]
God bless you Menagerie and thank you.
I am hoping to reconsile my dissolution with the manner in which our Hierarchy has gone over to the dark side during this ScamDemic, and get back to the church of life.
I am still struggling as I refuse to accept their “new normal”
Remember, you and I are “the Church” every bit as much as they are. What it is is also determined by us, not just in our influence, but our example and our presence. Without us is it weaker or stronger? How will you reply to Jesus when he questions your choice?
I am also hangin on by my fingernails, but I will not leave the Real Presence. Where else on this Earth can I go for Him?
You can’t. The Catholic church is the only place where you can find Christ hidden in the euCHaRIST: the body and blood, soul and divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Eucharist: the source and summit of the Christian life.
Your comment reminds me of John 6 after the Bread of Life Discourse when the saying was too hard and people starting leaving and Jesus asked the twelve if they will leave too and Simon Peter said to Him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” John 6:68
That’s exactly how I feel when I struggle with the external ongoings of the Catholic church.
P.S. I hope you saw my comment to you from your other post on Lent. I didn’t care who read it. I only cared that you, Menagerie, read it. I will be praying for your Lenten journey this year. May you fight off those demons and your soul be at peace more than ever. God loves you so much and appreciates all you do and have done for Him. 💜✝️💜
Thank you, appreciate your comments and encouragement very much.
Dear Deputy M, you have no idea. lol
You’ve been assisting unawares in places and minds and hearts for over a year now in my own family wrt a family member, who converted from lutheranism.
I didn’t realize until today that you had converted.
It adds to the story in a way that makes me feel the Holy Spirit move, and I am resolved to find the right words to share it, without saying too much, because it’s really her story.
But we’re in it, and here’s how. I’ll preface by saying this all came to me, I didn’t seek it out. That’s not my style. I’m just focused on supporting others in their faith and reacting responsibly to what is volunteered and sought.
Her faith is apparently subordinate to her love of the church’s formalities and atmosphere, which, she says, was why she converted over a decade ago. She’s been kind of squishy in her faith and understanding of Scripture, and a low information voter.
I’m certainly no scholar or paragon of virtue, but when these conversations come up, I often find myself in the position of knowing more about the Church’s history and current practices than she does, and that’s because I pay attention here.
Your posts and some of the replies they inspire have mysteriously equipped me with just enough of the right stuff that I find myself in the amazing position of telling her things she didn’t know, that encourage her and turn her to the Church. She had no idea about Archbishop Vigano, for example, and her reaction to seeing the video that had been posted here on the very morning of her visit, was enough to bring a tear.
She went home feeling and thinking differently that when she came.
So girl, it looks like you‘ve been used. : )
The Holy Spirit calls his own, and God bless you for making yourself available to him. I often read my own words and know that I didn’t write them. Most of the time. Thanks so much for sharing.
Amen, Little Lotus, Amen
You may want to know about this: livemass.net
Traditional (approved) Latin Mass, entrusted to FSSP, Fraternity of St. Peter.
Even if you have to go out of your way to find one, visit a few times, high and low Masses. For sure, try Holy Week at one of the parishes. Absolutely nothing left out.
Romans 8:9-11 (New Catholic Bible) You, however, do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not possess the Spirit of Christ cannot belong to him. But if Christ is in you, then even though the body is dead as a result of sin, the Spirit is alive in you because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then the one who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwells in you.
Colossians 1:27b Christ in you, your hope of glory.
The real presence is in you. God is with you. God is in you. God is for you.
Patrick, I hear you! I was a life-long Episcopalian until the China flu came to our shores. I saw my church becoming more secular and worldly over the last 15 years at the national level, but thought the little southern parishes I attended would never openly support those changes. Then, when China flu hit us, they closed the church for a year – only having online services, embraced the propaganda to have us all live in fear, and put a sign out front that stated “Social distancing saves lives”. I thought, NO, Jesus saves lives!! We found a small Orthodox Anglican Church 40 minutes away where the priest is an old army ranger who kept his church open the entire time. Masks were optional, don’t come if you’re sick. Communion was given. It is a sane haven in an insane world. Thanks be to God!
Amen! Congratulations on finding the Orthodox Anglican Church! I’m in the Continuing Church of the APA (Anglican Province America). We are an Anglo-Catholic Church rooted in the Gospel. I left the Episcopal Church years ago and have never looked back. May your joy be unbounded and may you be many times blessed.
Pope Bird Leone 👿 in The Vatican is a disciple of the demon master Schwab of WEF NWO.
THE LORD GOD BLESS US ALL.🙏✝️🙏
Precisely.
But doesn’t that contradict the Christian message?
I was in a car with a Catholic priest. His car had a telephone–this was way before cellphones, 1960’s. He put his hand on my thigh. Ugh.
I later attended a Christmas Mass. A friend and I followed the priest home. A woman followed him up a garage lift-down stairs. That was a real eye-opener.
As a Catholic, I stopped attending Mass, but later became a Protestant.
Read the Bible. Decide for yourself if it rings true. To me, it does.
I pray daily to God to take me to heaven. Not some cloudy gossamer place, nor a place with streets of gold. But solar systems, and planets in which He has created wonders, including life.
Loved reading your last paragraph. If my memory of the Book of Revelation serves me correctly, we are promised a new heaven and new earth.
Its clear to see all of man’s efforts are coming to their logical conclusion. God the Father is showing us what man can accomplish without Him. Nothing that can withstand the fire of judgement. Only the blood of Jesus is able to save us because our debt is paid by it.
Yet the church is here as salt and light to hold back the decay. To preserve life and expose truth.
“ Since you have kept my command to endure patiently ,I will also keep you from that hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test those who live on the earth”.
Revelation 3:10
So we must repent and turn around; away from all these loud and anxious distractions. To what really matters. Like The Ukrainian refugees in the train station. Run from sin and grab the people you love . And anyone who will follow. Praying fervently every step of the way.
It’s going to take more than giving up sweets and being nice.
In all humility, I have to be honest with you. (And You are not the only one, in fact there are thousands, who have fallen for this very trick from the devil.) You mistakenly put the blame on the Catholic Church for the misdeeds of one of its human followers( the priest)
Jesus has only One, Holy( though it’s individuals are far from perfect) Catholic and Apostolic church.
Don’t tear Him( the Church)apart because of human’s failures
The enemy of the good is the perfect.
And who, in the eyes of our Lord, is perfect?
What? Did you watch the video?
Not really. It does contradict the Covidian message though.
Thanks for explaining Lent. I was aware of it but not familiar with the details. May we all repent.
“Repentance is the true turning of our life to God, a turning that arises from a pure and earnest fear of Him; and it consists inthe mortification of the flesh and the renewing of the Spirit.” John Calvin
The sacrifice that you make during Lent should bring you closer to Christ. Whatever that may be you should focus on why and how that sacrifice brings you closer to Christ not just that you are giving up something.
For me, I am ditching social and secular digital media and spending more time in spiritual reading and prayer. As a Catholic, I plan to spend more time in Adoration asking the Lord to deliver me from sin. Lead me from the darkness into the light.
Thank YOU dear Lord Jesus !
Tough I have been naturalized 40 years ago,
my swiss-german accent just won’t quit; so
people I meet sometimes treat me ” as a foreigner “,
often with typical american love and interest.
Thank You Lord for sharing Your grace and mercy with us.
Thank You that we may grow more like You during this Lent season.
Busted Halo videos tend to be short and easy to understand. This one on Lent is great. Thanks for sharing, Menagerie.
On a personal note, we lost our twin grandchildren, born prematurely, just a few weeks ago. In the middle of this great sadness, God’s grace was/is evident in so many ways. I realize how many folks act as Simon of Cyrene to the crosses we carry and how many carry heavy crosses. This whole ordeal has given me an introspective starting point for Lent.
My deepest sympathy to you and your family. What a heartbreaking loss to suffer. I’ll be praying for all of you, I’m so very sorry.
Sorry for you loss Della..
God bless you
Della, my heart breaks for you and you family. Saying a prayer for y’all.
I am so sorry Della, prayers and condolences.
Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free.
Your grief is held in the heart of God and your beautiful grandbabies are held there until you see them and kiss their sweet faces again. God bless you and your family in these days ahead.
AWESOME!!!
Hymn words: Samuel Trevor Francis 1834-1925
Tune: “Ebenezer” by Thomas John Williams 1869-1944
Choir Anthem Arrangement: Walter Black
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZmY…
Published by PraiseGathering Music and distributed by Lifeway
Performance:
California Baptist University Choir
Orchestra and the Sanctuary Choir of First Baptist Church of New Braunfels, Texas
6 May, 2010
Video production: Achillies Buchanan
To my knowledge all video clips are copyright and royalty free
Credit for clips 1 and 8: https://www.videvo.net/profile/videvo/
Thank you for your post regarding Lent. I am excited about Lent for the first time in a long time. God is working despite the chaos and destruction visible to the naked eye. I’m hoping to use Lent to remove the logs in my path to more clearly see Jesus and follow Him more closely. Prayers for a prosperous Lent and more joyful Easter!
As a pentecostal believer with freewill baptist roots, there is much in catholicsm that I cannot accept.
Yet, genuine faith in our LORD Jesus Christ transcends differences in doctrine. In these dark days, we must come to unity of the faith, and humble ourselves before God.
I will therefore observe this fast with abstention from certain foods, prayer three times daily, my usual daily Bible reading, playing/singing songs of praise daily, and giving as God directs.
Thanks, Menagerie, Sundance, Ad Rem; and to all of CTH.
Amen to your second paragraph Scott…I agree whole heartedly, we must come together..
Thanks.
Amen. Thank you for posting.
The Litany of Humility, a simple, powerful prayer.
Thank you for your prayerful reflections.
Another beautiful litany: The Litany of Spiritual Confidence
https://thethoughtafterthoughtblog.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/litany-of-spiritual-confidence/
Wow, this video is beautiful….
A million trillion gazillion times: thanks and God bless
Thank you. I needed this. Blessings…
God bless you Menagerie.
You are an inspiration and I prayed, with hubby, after reading your post.. we pray all the time but we don’t act….
We haven’t attended church in a while, we too got discouraged.. but you remind us that it only matters what WE do. So we repent..
I am responsible for MY walk with Christ…
We walk in faith, and walk by the spirit..
Again, God bless you and all humans..
Bananas, my hubs and I haven’t attended church in quite some time…it saddens me not to gather together and worship Him. In these times I wonder if God has His hand of protection over us to keep us from hearing messages that are not of Him…have you ever felt this? We are Christ in the world (not of it) and our bodies are God’s temple…
Wow! Thank you!!!
Thank you Menagerie. Over a year ago I went back to my church with a greater commitment to them and my faith in the Lord. The Lord has given me another chance and the change in my life has been significant. Praise the LORD!
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” KJV
I listen to a lot of meditative music during Lent.
You may like the following recordings of the Geneva Bible Psalm settings (published 1539-51).
These are instrumental settings, with viol, recorder, and pump organ. The visuals are nicely-done meditative photos of 16th-17th century European churches.
If you attend or grew up in a traditional church, you will recognize all of the settings, and they will call forth many holy memories.
Matthew 20
26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
I went to church this morning. The First Reading seems such an appropriate prayer for the Ukraine:
“Spare, O Lord, your people
and make not your heritage a reproach with the nations ruling over them.”
I am Catholic and attend Bible Study Fellowship as well as “attend” the World Prayer Network on Wednesdays and Sunday nights as we pray for various situations in the country and the world. We as Christians can all learn from each other.
We are living a modern version of the times of the Tower of Babel. God knew that if all men could communicate with each other, eventually, the bad ones would turn the good ones against Him. That is why He separated US. Notice how every country that has been flooded with people from far off lands, has things go sideways pretty quickly? These same people are demanding that we stay silent on what God has to say about EVERYTHING. Going so far as to call us terrorists. I will not yield. Not one more fraction of an inch. Things are going to get much much worse, before Jesus comes back. Prepare. Pray.
We must not yield, Amen.
Wonderful article. Thank you so much for sharing.
Menagerie, you are precious. Reading of daily events both here and other sites, I get so discouraged and distressed. Not only of the events themselves and the direction our country is going , but how quickly and easily the hate springs into my heart. I don’t allow it to remain, but the very fact that it comes so easily is revolting to me. Thank you for your inspiring posts. They are sorely needed.
I would like to say ,We need to remember the foundation of the Church. “The Rock”. I my self was disappointed in my local Catholic church shutting down for Covid . That’s why the Gospel on Ash Wednesday means so much to me. Matthew 6:1-6. Verse six is one of my favorites.
Encouraging thoughts. It is necessary for believers in Christ to step back from time to time and rest in the view of the bigger picture. I know of no other way to relieve the stress of a sinful and Godless world. Were it not for the light of Christ blazing forth from our weak and feeble lives, this world would be a total loss. Were it not for the hope I have in Jesus, I would not be able to stand before the overwhelming corruption and evil deception evident in many of those who exercise authority over us. Thank God that we know and love the Truth, so many don’t. “ Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” Jude 24-25
Great Lent, or the Fast, in the Orthodox Christian Church starts next Monday, which in English is called Clean Monday.
The Sundays and weeks leading to Clean Monday have specific purposes or themes for the edification and strengthening of the Faithful.
Each Sunday in Great Lent is dedicated to a specific Saint or event in the life of Christ’s Church.
Orthodox Great Lent is exceptionally rich in its prayers, Hymnography, and Iconography as part of Holy Tradition.
I remember a long time ago a band called Kansas did a song called Dust in the Wind. It seems they understood.
God has given to those who believe, one who is not unlike ourselves.
Paul called him the man Christ Jesus.
God ordained this man,
He is not 50% God and 50% man as some would suppose.
He is fact 100% God 100% man.
His Father was God and His mother was the Virgin Mary.
So then we have One who can rightly place His hand on both God and man mediating peace between the two.
“ For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Christ Jesus is God’s appointed means there is no other to approach God except by Jesus.
God and Christ are together bringing salvation a work men are not capable.
“…no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
They are one in every way.
Thank you for everything you do.
In Europe, it’s believed that Carnival is an echo of miscelaneus pre-Christian festivals centered around the arrival of Spring after Winter. Apparently part of it was eating left overs (meat, lard) before the warmer temperatures would spoil it.
Beuatiful post…thank you…..
Have a blessed Lent, Menagerie! I thank God for the fullness of my Catholic faith every day. Like you, my life is more joy-filled and meaningful since I’ve returned to my Catholic faith.
Growing up as a Methodist, we observed Lent (and in SE Wisconsin Friday-night fish fry was a pretty big tradition). We children got little coin folders that held dimes (back then real money). On Palm Sunday we would march into the sanctuary and deposit them by the alter. (In our church children went to Sunday School not church service until confirmation.)
I guess depending on what happens at General Conference 2022 I will become a “Global Methodist” (in this context Global means adhering to beliefs that are held globally as true, not USian woke beliefs).
My dad was a Methodist Minister. I am so glad he hasn’t had to see what the church has become. The coin folders, I haven’t thought about those in years! All those Mercury dimes. Palm Sunday we had real palm leaves, I used to be an usher and give them out. I still have a cross made out of some. I used to love MYF. All fond memories.
The Methodist have the best hymnal in the world, I will give them that. I haven’t stepped in a Methodist Church in years because of their not being able to get and keep their act together. Now I am just plain ‘ol Christian of a garden variety. I attend multiple churches to find the things that I grew up with and miss, like the Fish Fry, pancake suppers, and breakfasts, Easter sunrise service.
I so appreciate this site as an oasis of sanity, which is largely due to its Christian underpinnings that inform its views on this fallen, temporal world. I so look forward to meeting you all in Heaven. We are all dying to live. I look forward to the imposition of ashes later today to mark and reflect the blessed mortification unto new life achieved for us perfectly by God in our Holy Baptism and now, by Grace alone, lived out by us however imperfectly in daily contrition and repentant faith unto the forgiveness of sins.
May God bless your Lenten journey!
Does anyone here know if Archbishop Vigano has made an Ash Wednesday video?
Thank you Menagerie. In my 77 yrs I have never such a good explanation of Lent. It gives new meaning to this 40 days. God bless you.
Oops, missed a word. I have never seen such a good explanation of Lent.
Thanks Sundance! I don’t know much, I admit. Just a very small carpenter. But I am also Catholic. I have always considered Lent, as a time to maybe look inward a bit, reevaluate. Some prayer. Attend mass. That is all I know, about Lent. And that is what I will attempt to do. Best I can.
The Gospel is the reason we are here.
Caring enough to tell others what Jesus did on the cross for their sins is why we are here on earth!
The only thing we can take to eternity is our families, friends and neighbors.
Proclaim the Gospel!
Menagerie, It has been said that ‘inspiration comes from within’….. BUT you are (again) so inspiring.
~Thank you (once again)
for your (always) interesting, thought-provoking, heart-felt, lovely and educational articles.
Never have “celebrated” lent, as a 2nd gen. native American, and later a Christian! The event has evidenced only temporal actual spiritual impact on those I’ve known and witnessed, who religiously practice it! How relevant it is here is questionable but,… menagerie’s journalistic reporting are insightful!
Thank you Menagerie.
My body will return to dust. I will not. I am energy, a being of light.
Amen.
I attended Mass yesterday and received my ashes. It is an important day in the Church calendar and very symbolic.
Amen!