CMMB: Your Weekly Reflection in Prayer

“O Lord, I trust in Your merciful love: My heart will rejoice in Your salvation.  I will sing to the Lord who has been bountiful with me.”   Psalm 13:6 February 19, 2012 Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Entrance Antiphon to the Sunday Mass Dear John, Carnival – the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday – are three days of joyful celebration, parades and fun in several Catholic cities such as Rio, New Orleans, and Cologne.  Celebrations reach their climax on Mardi Gras or “Fat Tuesday.” The next day, Ash Wednesday, begins the forty days of prayer and penance. But first let us be grateful and joyful. The wisdom of the Catholic tradition urges us to relax, laugh, be merry and joyful for a few days before the rigor, the heaviness of Lent.  Indeed, as the Psalmist prays, the Lord has been good and bountiful to us.  Let us relax for a few days and rejoice in His presence with grateful hearts.  Lord God, renew our spirits and draw our hearts to You, that our work may not be to us a burden, but a delight. Let us not serve You with a spirit of bondage as slaves, but with the cheerfulness and gladness of children, delighting in You and rejoicing in Your work.  Amen Rev. Peter Schineller, S.J., CMMB Board of Directors