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13091 Galway Street Garden Grove, CA. 92844 (714) 537-0604 3/15/04 Dear Parish Family: We are well into the season of Lent and our journey is leading us through a time of transition, a time of movement from one place to another. It has been a busy time here at St. Anselms since I last wrote, beginning with our New Years Party in the parish hall, we had a full house for that, and a great turn out for the recent White Elephant Bingo on St. Valentines Day, and again a great turn out for the Fat Tuesday Pancake Supper before the beginning of Lent. Our next event will be the St. Patricks Corned Beef and Cabbage Supper with an Irish dance group performing in the Parish Hall on Friday March 19th, at 6:00 pm. We have been blessed with fun, fellowship, and people willing to work and put things together.We began Lent this year with the traditional Ash Wednesday liturgy. We had two services, one in the morning and one in the evening. Our evening Ash Wednesday Eucharist was special this year. It was a trilingual service: English, Spanish, and Korean, with over 100 faithful present. Fr. Aidan Ahn, and I co-celebrated and it was a true blessing. As you know, Fr. Aidan arrived here from Korea only a few months ago. Ash Wednesday was the first time we celebrated together. The worship flowed smoothly moving from one language into the other, and better yet it brought people of different cultures and backgrounds together as the one Body of Christ. It was a fitting start to our Lenten journey. The Ash Wednesday liturgy reminded us by the imposition of ashes that we are but dust, formed of the earth, and to dust we shall return. We are on a journey in transition toward something new and different. We are only passing through this time and place we call life on earth. Lent is a time of transition, and indeed the number forty represents transition. As you know, Lent is marked by a forty day period and it parallels the time our Lord spent in the desert, praying and fasting, preparing for something new in his life, preparing for something new on his journey. During my Lenten sermons I have been emphasizing this aspect of Lent. We too are on a journey, moving from one place to another, and through prayer, fasting, self-examination, repentance, and above all the gift of grace, we should at the end of this period emerge in a new place. After the holy season of Lent, something should have changed in us. This is why we pray and fast, self reflect and repent of those sins that may be against God, our neighbor, or even ourselves. Lent should move us from "stuck places" in our lives to new places of life where we can embody the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Galatians 5:22). We all have at least one thing we can identify in our lives that needs changing, something we are powerless over, something that keeps us from living fully, something that needs facing, Lent is the time to do this, to identify it and leave it behind!We are further reminded during this holy season that our Lord Jesus Christ is on a journey toward the Cross. He will make the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf, and he will do this out of love empowered by grace. He came into the world to show us the Way back to God, and as a consequence of this he was brutalized and crucified. His sacrifice can only have meaning and relevance for our lives if our lives are transformed by his gift to us. This is true redemption, the transformation of our lives by the work of the Spirit in our lives. Christ believed enough in us that he was willing to die for us, and for generations past and future. He was convinced to the core that we could experience redemption in our lives, in the here and now, he knew that our lives could be made whole. During Lent, we are called to move from our stuck places to places of freedom, liberation, and transformation. If we choose not to make the transition (avoid the desert) then nothing changes in our lives, life will go on with its usual dullness, anxiety, boredom, and fear. Jesus was willing to die for us because he understood that we dont have to continue "missing the mark" which is literally what the word "sin" means, living an empty life. If we refuse to be transformed by grace, then his sacrifice for us might as well have been in vain, we might as well throw in the towel and call it quits, and avoid becoming stumbling blocks for others. Our Lenten journey will take us into the darkness of the crucifixion. It is another reminder that indeed Lent is a desert journey, a challenging time to confront our inner demons and fears, and leave these behind. The Good News is that our Lord is offering us the transformation of our lives, literally the Way out. God is offering us a life of peace, joy, and love; Jesus is showing us the way. It is my prayer that we all work hard during this holy season of Lent to leave behind at least one thing we can identify for ourselves that holds us back and keeps us from experiencing life in its fullness. I believe we can all identify at least one thing, so again I call on us to identify it, and leave it behind in the desert. Soon Easter joy will be upon us, but we can only know the fullness of that joy when we have made the transition when we have moved from one place to another, when we have made the journey from the desert to a new place in our lives where we can experience the fullness of Gods grace and the power of Gods redemptive power to transform and make things new; this is resurrection. As we move further into the desert, I pray that we continue to invite the Spirit of God into our lives and allow God do the work of transformation that will make our lives a beautiful journey in the end, albeit at times a bumpy and turbulent journey, but in the end a beautiful journey...Wishing you a blessed and holy season of Lent, I remain In Grace,Wilfredo Benitez+ The Rev. Wilfredo Benitez,Rector See previous Logs |
