Dear UIC Students, Welcome to the JohnPaulIINewmanCenter for our Ash Wednesday services marking the beginning of the Holy Season of Lent. This
reflection book gives you a day by day reflection on the gospel for that
particular day. The daily reflection is meant to assist you in your
growing understanding of Jesus Christ and His call to all of us to serve
Him and to imitate how He lived.
Prayer is essential in our getting to know
Jesus. He is waiting for us even if we’ve been distant from Him. The
most perfect prayer is the Mass. Jesus becomes truly present to us, we
receive Him and ten go forth to bring Him to others by our words and
behavior. Other forms of prayer should flow from the Mass. A way to look
at prayer and getting to know Jesus is by seeing that relationship like
any other important relationship. The more time we spend with Jesus,
the more we speak to him of our needs and concerns, the more we listen
to him – the better we will come to know HIM.
Fasting is not very
popular in our culture today. We indulge rather than limit. The Church
ask us to fast as a way to look at the excesses of our lives and see how
they block our relationships with Jesus and with others. Fasting can
include but no be limited to giving up the use of alcohol or other
substances; refraining from spending time playing video games;
evaluating and recognizing how much time we spend surfing the internet;
viewing sexuality as a gift that is wonderfully expressed in
marriage; reducing the use of technology (i.e. texting, skyping;
chatting, emailing); spending more time studying! In this way we will
become more aware of the God who meets us in the present.
The
final discipline of Lent is almsgiving. It is directing our time and
talents in the direct service of the poor. It also means confronting the
structures of injustice that keep people marginalized. We can easily
recognize the face of Jesus every time we look into the face of a poor
person! The ideas of these three disciplines is not just to do them
during the Lenten season but to jump start us to continue these
behaviors after Easter into the rest of our lives.
The NewmanCenter offers a large varieties of opportunities for each one of these. I
encourage you to sign up today to participate more fully in the life of
the Church on our campus through the Newman community. If Father Steve Bauer or I can be of assistance to you in any way, please do not hesitate to contact us
or
The rest of our staff is also available to you. I pray that the season
of Lent may increase you love and knowledge of Jesus. May this season be
a time of renewing your commitment to Him by your words and
actions. May Easter bring you and your family great joy.
Be assured of my prayers for you and please keep me in yours.
Father Patrick M. Marshall Director/Chaplain JohnPaulIINewmanCenter University of Illinois at Chicago
