Lent Begins Today

Here's a Lenten message from Father John Corapi:

I want to extend to each and every one of you wishes for the most blessed and grace filled Lent of your life.

In many ways Lent is like life itself—a preparation for something higher and greater; a journey to an ultimate destination that “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the mind of man what God has in store for those who love him.”

Even Jesus prepared for his public ministry by going into the desert, with all of its privations and dangers. We need to prepare for our meeting face to face with God, and that preparation should start sooner, rather than later. In fact,
Lent—this Lent—is the best time to begin. Don’t put it off!

In order to help you to do this, we are offering a collection of our most popular DVD
singles that we feel most fit into the theme of Lent. I realize that the economy is not good for many of us, and many individuals and families are feeling the financial pinch. To help to do our part as best we can financially, we are offering this collection of single DVDs at a significant savings. The everyday retail price of these single DVDs is $90.00 ($15.00 each), when purchased individually.

For a limited time we are offering The Lenten Power Pack for $49. This is an average cost of $8.17 each for the 6 single DVDs.

The titles in this offer are:

1. Personal Testimony—My own life story of how God’s grace and mercy are so infinitely greater than our sins and human weaknesses. No one need lose hope, for God’s Name truly is Mercy.
2. Humility—Humility is truly the foundational and essential virtue. In order to repent and believe in the Gospel, humility is absolutely essential. Humility is the simple acknowledgment of truth—the truth concerning who God is and who I am. No humility, no holiness, no holiness no Heaven. Humility is the only way to begin Lent, and to live a truly Christian and Catholic life.
3. How To Make a Good Confession—As Catholics we can talk all we want about repentance, but the only ordinary means of the forgiveness of serious sins after Baptism that the Church knows of is the sacrament of Penance, or Reconciliation. This presentation will help you to make a good confession, whether you do it every week, or haven’t done it in fifty years.
4. Repent and Believe in the Gospel—The basic theme of all of the prophets, and ultimately Jesus Christ himself, was and is: “Repent! The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” God’s mercy is a lot bigger than our sins, no matter how many or horrible they may be. Nonetheless, in order to receive God’s mercy and forgiveness we have to repent of our sins. To fail or refuse to do this is to refuse God’s mercy.
5. Penance, Penance, Penance!—The need for penance and sacrifice has been dangerously downplayed in recent times. This is not rocket science: No penance,
no spiritual or moral power; no pain, no gain; no cross, no crown. The greatest
form of penance is to accept joyfully and daily the trials and tribulations that go with our state in life. Easy to say, hard to do. Nonetheless, let’s take a look at this.
6. The Power of the Cross of Christ—“The Cross is the crossroads where all roads cross.” This is one of my favorite lines from my doctoral thesis in dogmatic theology. It translates into one of my Grandmother’s favorite sayings: “Offer it up!” There is quite simply no Easter Sunday morning victory without the pain and darkness of Good Friday, and, as Jesus reminds us, “The servant is no better than his Master.”

May God grant you every grace and blessing to overcome the trials of Lent and of life, and to hear those beautiful words at the end, “Well done, my good and faithful servant, now at last enter into the joy of your Master’s house.”

God bless you,

Fr. John Corapi, SOLT, STD

I have seen most if not all of the talks in this series, and can warmly recommend this new compilation. I can highly recommend numbers 1, 4 and 6 in particular.