Fr Timothy Wan Kwok Kwong shares his encounter with Bom Jesus dos Passos and how it led him to consider his journey to the priesthood. He explains how the event inspired him to offer himself to Jesus and consider his vocation. Fr Tim talks about his experience with the procession and how Jesus called him, leading to a series of events that ultimately led him to enter the seminary.
We are—all of us—sitting on a lot of unresolved rage. Thomas Aquinas defines the deadly sin of anger in his typically pithy manner as an irrational or excessive desire for revenge. Every one of us has been hurt by someone else, aggressed, unjustly harmed, insulted, perhaps to an extreme degree. And so, naturally enough, we harbor a desire to respond in kind.
In this article, we will learn the importance of penance, repentance, and the practice of the three traditional Lenten penances: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Almsgiving is closely connected with forgiveness, and both the corporal and spiritual works of mercy are important. We must approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or confession, and to make firm resolutions to carry out the three penances during Lent. Let us also take up the Lenten devotion of The Way of the Cross and pray along with the community. Lent is a pilgrimage to Easter and a time for conversion and penance.
Lent is a time of conversion and penance, leading to a renewed life in Easter. The virtue of penance disposes us to repentance and deeper conversion. Interior penance inclines us to do external penances like prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These classical penances help us re-establish and fortify our relationships with God, ourselves, and others. Fasting is a means to put order and harmony in our lives, while almsgiving is a visible expression of mercy. Lent is a pilgrimage of faith, hope, and love, leading to happiness.
Here are some tips on how we can benefit from the time of Lent.
Sin is bad company. It is opposed to what we all want in life: happiness, which is made up of love, compassion, peace and joy – and continuing prayer! The greatest thing: God is infinitely merciful and always ready to open the door of forgiveness. Sin is forgiven by the mercy of God through Christ. By acknowledging and confessing our sins with repentance, we are on the way home, on the way – like the Prodigal Son – to the embrace of our Father.