Dear Parish Family,
  
During late fall and the beginning of winter, as we entered through the office entrance, there was the most beautiful pink rose that had somehow managed to push through the obstacle of the canopy. As you can see in the picture it was almost perfect. We were tempted to cut it and bring it inside to relish it’s beauty. Being such a unique vison this late in the year, it was left outside and slowly withered.  Could this be us?  Without the light of Christ, and the warmth of His love, don’t we all have the tendency to wither away? Lent is the perfect time to trim our shriveled outer leaves, fertilize our souls, and tend to the garden of our hearts and minds.
 
St. Francis of Assisi was hoeing his garden when someone asked, “ what would he do if he were to suddenly hear that he would die before sunset that very day?” His reply was, “I would finish hoeing my garden.” Lent is a beautiful time to focus on our growth and inner beauty. What ever our path of learning or discerning, “It is not important who does the  plowing or who does the watering.  What is important is that God makes the seeds within us grow.” (1 Corinthians 3:7). Where do I begin? Of course, with prayer.  “Each of us is called to cultivate our inner garden in which The Divine Word may flourish.” (St John of the Cross)
 
Doesn’t everything flourish, when it is nurtured and loved?
 
As St. Francis De Sales said, “Bloom where you are planted.”
 
Mary Jo