Fr. Mark Hamlet

Sitio en Español

Prepare for Lent

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This week we have Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Lent. We must prepare well to live a fruitful Lent.  The readings today can help us enter Lent with our personal examination and discernment of Conscience.  Jesus said in the Gospel,

Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?
How can you say to your brother,
‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’
when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?
You hypocrite!  Remove the wooden beam from your eye  first;then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.

The best way to prepare for Lent is to make a personal plan of discernment, examination of your conscience, prayer and confession during Lent. You know the beam in your own eye!  You will learn to be more honest with yourselves, humbly accept your shame and ask for God’s forgiveness.

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Lent Week IV: How Is It Going?

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(Given at Mary Immaculate Church, Kirksville, Mo)

How is your Lent going? Is something changing in your life? Have you determined if anything needs to change to improve your relationship with God? Are you praying? Are you fasting? Been to Confession lately? Are you doing anything? We all want to go to Heaven! Does something have to change? Something has to change! That is what Lent is about!

One thing to examine in Lent would be whether or not you prefer to be more a child of this world, and are resisting becoming a child of God, a citizen of Heaven. How does your behavior have to change to prepare for Eternal Life with God? God won’t force us to go to Heaven. We have to choose God and Eternal Life with Him.

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How Is Your Lent Going?

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How is your Lent going? Is something changing in your life? Have you determined if anything needs to change to improve your relationship with God? Are you praying? Are you doing anything? We all want to go to Heaven! Does something have to change? Something has to change! That is what Lent is about!

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Palm Sunday 2014

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In Holy Week we celebrate mystery NOT history.  These liturgies do not take us back in time but into what is happening now in our lives, today.  We are invited to enter into the mystery and anticipate our own Resurrection with the Lord.  We are reminded to keep the paschal fast on Good Friday and Holy Saturday until the Easter Vigil.  Fast and pray and give alms.  In Holy Week we unite ourselves to Jesus, our sufferings to his, so that we might also join with him in the Resurrection.

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Palm Sunday 2013

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Palm Sunday 2013

In Holy Week we celebrate mystery NOT history.  These liturgies do not take us back in time but into what is happening now in our lives, today.  We are invited to enter into the mystery and anticipate our own Resurrection with the Lord.  We are reminded to keep the paschal fast on Good Friday and Holy Saturday until the Easter Vigil.  Fast and pray and give alms.  In Holy Week we unite ourselves to Jesus, our sufferings to his, so that we might also join with him in the Resurrection.

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Don’t waste Lent!

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Today I wish to revisit some of the issues we spoke about on Ash Wednesday, and business as usual.

How is your Lent going?  Sometimes we simply cannot continue with “business as usual”.  Our “business as usual” is our accommodation with the world.  The Church knows that we cannot simply continue with “business as usual”.  That is why we have always had Lent. [Read more…]

Ash Wednesday 2012

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Sometimes we simply cannot continue with “business as usual”.  Our “business as usual” is our accommodation with the world.  The Church knows that we cannot simply continue with “business as usual”.  That is why we have always had Lent.

Something has to give.  Something has to change.  Our faith cannot simply be an external practice.  The words of Ash Wednesday are always,

“Remember man that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” [Read more…]

Spiritual Freedom and Lent

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We are beginning the third week of Lent. Lent is a spiritually rich time if we choose to participate. Through the discipline of Lent we are to renew our efforts to grow spiritually and increase our control over temptation. Fasting, prayer, alms and other penance help us to increase our self-control over the desires of the flesh. I had a priest spiritual director in the seminary who gave the community instruction on Lenten penance and our dietary restrictions. His lesson was “Do penance. It’s spiritually healthy.” But he said, “You watch your plate. I’ll watch mine.”
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