A flyer with the schedule of activities for Lent (Ash Wednesday is February 22!) will be mailed in the next few days. For most of us the six weeks of Lent fly by quickly; perhaps because of the end of winter and the suddenness with which spring arrives. So we should try hard to get ready, to think seriously of some special things we might do to enhance our lives as faith-filled Christians and prepare for celebrating Easter. Each week we have tried to provide information in this space on readily available faith formation resources – books, periodicals, lectures, websites, conferences, retreats, discussions and study groups. But we should add to this list one extremely important “resource” all of us have for expanding our awareness of who we are and why a solid relationship with God and the Church is so critical for our happiness and success: the talent we all have to just sit and think!
In this busy, busy age, filled as it is with constant messages, images, noise and pressures to do this or that, to buy this product or accept that opinion, we have to devote more time, to serious, honest, relaxed thought about the direction of our lives and what we might do to bring ourselves closer to God, especially in the days between our participation in Mass. Lent is obviously a good time for all of this. While it is appealing to simply read another book or browse another website, we should not overlook the value of some “quality time” alone with our thoughts.
St. John’s Book Discussion Group – Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas on Thursday, March 15 at 7:30 in the Parish Center.
This relatively new biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer has won wide acclaim. Reverend Bonhoeffer was a theologian and leading critic of the Nazi regime in the 1930s. During the war he was associated with the group trying to overthrow Hitler. A profound and prolific thinker, his sense of duty as a pastor remained strong till the moment of his execution, as suggested by this quotation written from his prison cell in 1944:
I’m still discovering, right up to this moment, that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. I mean living unreservedly in life’s duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities. In so doing, we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God.
St. John’s Adult Faith Formation Commission: Patrick Blomberg, Linda Colozzi, Marcia Grondin, Pat Kelleher (chair), John Salvati, John Stewart, Anne Wachtmeister, Sister Evelyn Ronan (advisor)
Email: AFFC@stjohnwellesley.org
