A SERMON FOR ASH WEDNESDAY, LENT'S START

EVEN NOW ...

A monk, on pilgrimage, was thirsty in Bagkok, Thailand, so he handed a five dollar bill to a young lad who gave him a bottle of water.  "My change please,"  the monk said, to which the lad responded: 

"CHANGE, SIR, CHANGE COMES FROM WITHIN!"

Pounding paczki yesterday pressed in your belly? Those rasberry-packed doughnuts with hundreds of fat grams of egg and carbs.  Did you have one?  Or, three?  Now, work it off, or pay the price for a heavy and clogged heart, and more.

And, tomorrow is another day some will pack it in, or, put on the lips and on the hips, with Valentine's Day with all due respect to the brothers of Thesolonica, Greece, Saints Cyril and Methodius, the ecumenical apostles of the Slavs.  Any Slavs here?  Raise your hand high please - Slavs? Now, anyone planning for Lent still?  Details?

EVEN NOW RETURN TO ME WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART.

Ecumenism saints they morphed and converted many.  SS. Cyril and Methodius Church is named after them on Ryan, north of 18 Mile Road in Sterling Heights.  And, the Orchard Lake Schools Seminary with mostly Polish students being formed to be parish pastors, is called, Saints Cyril and Methodius Seminary at OL, Orchard Lake.  Have you been there?  It's worth a visit there this Lent, and a visit to St. Paul of the Cross  retreat house on I-96 east of Telegraph, squeezed in between your

casino stops seniors, among others here tonight, and

paying the bills,

shut up some,

try silence,

say your prayers,

be an aroma of Christ's charity,

fast by eating a lot less food than we Americans ingest each day, yes, you youngsters also, you know, perhaps you don't, you'll stave off diabetes in your living temple/body by walking and getting some brisk exercise these 40 days.

Finally, abstain from meat Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all the Fridays of Lent will get you fit and fashionable in body, mind and spirit, OK?

YES, EVEN NOW at 16, 46 or 59 or 99!

REND YOUR HEARTS AND VEST AND DRESS IN HOLINESS ALONE,  AND BLOW THE TRUMPET.

THE DAY OF THE LORD, A DAY OF JUDGMENT IS NEARER THAN YOU THINK.

WHO KNOW WHEN THE DAY KNOCKS FOR YOU?

MEND, BUILD BRIDGES IN YOUR FAMILY, YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD, AND YOUR SCHOOL, BULLIES ALSO!

EVEN NOW THE ACCEPTABLE TIME, THE BEST TIME.

BE ALL YOU CAN BE THESE 40 DAYS THROUGH THE LORD'S SUPPER ON HOLY THURSDAY WHEN LENT ENDS AND THE HOLIEST DAYS OF YOUR OWN AND MY CALENDAR BEGIN WITH GOOD FRIDAY AND HOLY SATURDAY AND EASTER, MARCH 31ST THROUGH PENTECOST.

BE A LIGHTNING ROD THAT GETS YOUR OWN ATTENTION TO CHANGE SELF - NOT OTHERS, THIS LENT!

LIKE THE HUMBLE, BRILLIANT POPE BENEDICT'S SURPRISE THAT IT'S TIME TO QUIT POPING, FEBRUARY 28TH.  HE'S GETTING READY, LIKE ALL OF US TO PASS OVER.

ARE YOU?

WILL YOU these days of Lent?

WHO WILL?
raise your hand please, stand up.....get their names in writing.

EVEN NOW:  CHANGE COME FROM WITHIN!