ENTERING THE LENTEN SEASON: An Opportunity to Renew Our Faith and Draw Strength from the Eucharist

Many Lenten practices that we foster within our families today will stay with our children throughout their lives. In one small, but tangible example, Fr. Leo Enlow vividly remembers abstinence on Fridays during his childhood and the butter rolls that were his breakfast staple.

“We used to go to Mass on Fridays as kids at our Catholic school, and after Mass, for a dime at the cafeteria, we’d have these beautiful butter rolls and milk,” Fr. Leo says. “My mom would also make me a fried egg sandwich for lunch on Friday. I definitely remember those days of fasting and abstinence as a child.”

During the Lenten season, St. Peter offers us many opportunities to plan an intentional spiritual journey and foster Lenten practices such as prayer, fasting, and abstinence.

“This year I’m hoping that together we will renew ourselves in the Eucharist,” Fr. Leo says. “During the pandemic, we have been away from the Eucharist and Mass, and many people have stayed away. It is time to come back to the Eucharist.”

To foster our renewed love and reverence for the Eucharist, St. Peter will offer an additional Mass each weekday.

“We’ll continue to have our morning Mass, but we’ll also have an evening Mass at 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday,” Fr. Leo says. “I hope that this opportunity encourages people to come back to the Church and to return to the Eucharist.”

In addition, the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be available every weekday evening from 5:45 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.

Also on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the parish will have an ongoing “mini-mission” with a series of presentations on the Creed led by Fr. Leo. These presentations will take place in the Church from 7 to 8 p.m.

Fr. Leo plans to draw upon a new resource by Bishop Robert Barron on the Creed. In this video-based study, Bishop Barron invites us to reflect deeply upon the words we recite each week during Mass.

“It’s a new resource that came out recently,” Fr. Leo says. “Part of living the Creed, living our beliefs, is knowing our faith better and centering ourselves around the Eucharist.”

This Lent Fr. Leo also invites us to choose a fast of some kind to practice. While we used to think only of food in relation to fasting, we can also think of fasting from a habit that has led us away from Christ.

“There are different habits that seem to take us away from Christ and from our families,” Fr. Leo says. “Maybe we have developed the bad habit of sleeping in on Sunday. Maybe we are focused on electronic devices and not on our family.”

This Lenten season, let us come together as a faith community centered on the Eucharist and united in practices of prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. One way to do this is to join the parish for our mini-mission on the Creed each Tuesday and Thursday during Lent.

“When we profess our faith, we profess it in front of the Eucharist,” Fr. Leo says. “There’s no better way to renew our faith in the Creed than to draw strength from the Eucharist.”

For more information about the Lenten season at St. Peter, please reach out to the parish office at 217-222-3155.

Lent provides us with a valuable opportunity for spiritual renewal as we solemnly reflect and prepare for the joy of Easter.