By Sophia Hosford

​Over the past two weekends, I was present for the First Communion Retreats our young people attended as they prepare to receive the Sacrament in April. The youth and their parents were so attentive throughout the day as we read stories from the Gospel, learned about the miracle of the Eucharist, and practiced how to come up for Communion. I heard parents sharing their own stories of faith with their kiddos and asking questions.
 
My favorite part of the retreats was ending in Adoration. I've always had a great love for this form of worship: coming right up next to Jesus who is truly present in the host. I find it incredible that we have a God who is so great and so powerful that He created the universe, and yet so humble He would just sit in silence with me, without demanding or asking of me. Both of us just sit together, loving each other, seeing how beautiful the other truly is. In this crazy world, where everything is so noisy, from our cars to our radios to our video chats for work and school, it is a miracle to be given time (even just 5 minutes) to be in silence. Often in Adoration, I find myself wondering how often I take time to simply see the people who are in my life - how can I take time to adore my husband, my family, my friends, the nature around me? I'm so busy filling it up with activities and noise that it's easy to forget to love. This silence and opportunity to love is the gift Adoration offers us.
 
It was incredibly moving to watch everyone at the retreat enter into this kind of prayer, some of them for the first time ever. Parents and children knelt down together and as a family they worshipped and prayed. Before Adoration began, I explained what we were about to do and encouraged everyone to take this time to talk to Jesus, to tell Him about what they did today or what they were most looking forward to over the weekend. Bring fears and hopes and joys and nervousness. Jesus wants it all. Jesus wants you. It may not be easy, but it is simple - He just wants to love you. After I explained Adoration, we prayed together, and I invited a young girl sitting up front to join me in front of the altar. She excitedly came forward and suddenly we were surrounded by other young people who all wanted to be close to Jesus in the Monstrance.
 
As I looked around and saw all these amazing parents and children praying together, I was filled with hope! The Eucharist is life - not just a story or a fairytale. Not just the legends of a man who lived 2000 years ago. But real life. This year Pope Francis has asked us to celebrate a Jubilee Year of Hope! In the midst of war and sickness and political divide, and now as we enter the prayer, fasting, and almsgiving of Lent, I saw our families completely embrace Jesus Christ as their hope. 

This past weekend I had shared a short list of ideas for a Lenten sacrifice that didn't involve food during my homily.  I only gave a short list, and many asked if I could share a more complete list. 

This list comes from our Evangelical Catholic "Reach More" training booklet.  Our family of parishes just recently partnered with them. Right now our first group of parishioners are going through the "Reach More" missionary discipleship training. Please take some time to pray over this list and talk about this with your families.  I hope it may help you have a blessed Lent.

IDEAS FOR SACRIFICES THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH FOOD
Get creative about incorporating small, unseen sacrifices into your routine to pray for others.  Call the person you're praying for to mind whenever you make your sacrifice.

At Work 

• Stick to a schedule.
• Start on time and end on time.
• Do unpleasant or difficult tasks first.
• Whenever anyone asks for your help, give them your immediate attention (if your position allows)
• Or the opposite: schedule focused time, shut your door, close your email when not using it, silence unnecessary notifications, etc.
• Stay off of social media during work hours.
• Compliment people; go out of your way to be friendly; smile even when you don't feel like it.
• Finish your tasks as well and quickly as you can, and then offer to help someone else with their tasks.
• Close your computer if you don't need it for your current task.

At Home

• Go to 6:30 morning Mass Tuesday and Thursday mornings at our Incarnation Campus
• Let others choose music, movies, tv shows, etc.  Accept their choice with a cheerful spirit.
• Lessen a spouse's or roommate's burden: do an undesirable home task or one of their least-favorite chores before they get to it.
• do a certain number of loads of laundry per day or week.
• Fold and put away laundry immediately after it finishes drying.
• Don't leave clothes on the floor.
• Set the table, wash the dishes, or offer to make a meal if these are not part of your regular responsibility.
• Drop whatever you're doing whenever someone asks your assistance.
• Exercise regularly; or if you tend to be indulgent with exercise, end your exercises on time.
• Cut out certain amount of social media time and instead play a board game with friends/family/roommates.
• Put your phone in another room when you get home; treat it like a landline.  Only get it if it rings.
• Make your bed first thing in the morning.
• No phones or screens at the dining table or while doing activities with someone else.
• For married couples: give your spouse a five-minute massage every night.
• For parents of small children:
  • Be the one to brush the little kid's teeth.
  • Do the bedtime routine, and make it fun!
  • Offer to change the diaper or assist the toddler in the bathroom

​Miscellaneous

• don't listen to music or podcasts in the car, but drive in silence.
• Get up early and go to Mass.
• Don't hit snooze in the morning.
• Get to bed on time.
• Cut out screen time one hour before bed.
• Decrease your news or podcast consumption by one source.
• Don't give your opinion if you're not asked for it.
• Avoid positions or postures that hinder concentration or that convey negative nonverbals (legs crossed, slouching, folding arms, etc.
• Modify your curiosity/imagination: fast from browsing the internet except for work or to help someone with a specific request.
• Avoid talking about certain topics: i.e. yourself, topics that draw out negativity, things you obsess about, complaining, topics that are indulgent, etc.
• Instead of grumbling, say a prayer at red lights, when someone cuts you off, or when stuck in traffic, etc.

 
Let us pray for each other as we enter into Lent and continue to walk this path together as Our Lady of Light.
 
In Christ,
Fr. Brian 

By Sarah Chivers

Every year as we approach Lent, I tell myself I'm going to give up social media. It often drains my happiness and more importantly, it drains the time I spend with my family, outdoors, reading a good book, etc. But it doesn't take long for me to remember that my job revolves around social media - there's not much that I can do to avoid it. So I choose something else to give up or I add a special spiritual something to my daily life and still feel bogged down by my inability to avoid social media throughout Lent.

But I may have discovered a solution.

I recently read a blog article about the idea of 'First World Penances.' The writer goes into detail about how he altered his phone's settings to make everything appear in grayscale. Every text, photo, app - colorless. It took the joy and excitement from his phone.

I'd like to imagine that it gets boring pretty quickly, seeing everything in only shades of gray. He's right - it sucks the beauty out of pictures. How much quicker would we put our phones down if there wasn't anything flashy to escape the stresses of life with? How much brighter and happier would the living world around us be if technology wasn't so colorful? 

So as the person behind Our Lady of Light social media, I thought to myself... if life around us were that much brighter without color on our phones, how much more beautiful would the resurrection be if our social media went grayscale for Lent? If all of our photos through Lent were only visible in gray, how much more meaningful would color be for our Christian story as Jesus is risen from the dead?

So this year, Our Lady of Light social media will be going grayscale for the duration of Lent. We want our community to remember the solemn journey we are on towards the cross and rejoice the resurrection more fully with the celebration of the Easter Vigil. As we approach Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season, know that our parish staff is praying for you!