OAPCE
2025 Lenten message from the Liaison Bishop
✠ Yvan Mathieu, SM
Dear Parents of the Ontario Association of Parents in Catholic Education (OAPCE),
On Wednesday March 5th, we start the Lenten Season. During the forty days that precede the great feast of the Resurrection of Christ, we are invited to follow and imitate Jesus who, after his baptism by John, “Full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was put to the test by the devil.” (Luke 4:1-2)
This year, the beginning of the Lenten Season coincides with the March break. Strange time to start a season of penance and fasting! But this is also a good reason to rediscover the spiritual meaning of Lent. In our childhood memories, Lent is synonymous with privation of good things: no dessert, no chocolate, no meat on Fridays. But Lent is fundamentally a time to return to God in order to love him with all our hearth, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength (see Mark 12:30). This can be done even when we enjoy the March break.
On Ash Wednesday, Jesus invites all his disciples to do three things: to give alms, to pray and to fast (see Matthew 6:1-6,16-18). These three practices touch fundamental relationships in our life: our relation to our brothers and sisters (almsgiving), our relation to God (prayer) and our relation to creation (fasting). In these three fundamental areas, we are invited to accomplish the will of God our Father. The idea is not to be praised or be seen by others. It is rather to center our life on the Gospel. The purpose is to be seen and praised by God: “your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Mt 6:4,6,18)
As Catholic parents, we could use the time we have during the March break and during Lent to be closer to our children and to show them how closely we follow Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel. The idea is not so much to start preaching to them about charity, prayer and fasting. The most important way of teaching our kids about the Gospel is not so much what we say but how we act on a daily basis.
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16) “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)
Together with our children who received the light of Christ on the day of Baptism, let us take the time to rekindle the light of faith in our family life. A family could decide to put aside some money during Lent, and to share it with those who are in need. Another family will decide to invest some time in the food bank of its parish. This could be a dynamic way to give alms! What if each family of OAPCE was to take one brief moment, 15 minutes a week maybe, to pray together and to share the Sunday Gospel? Our prayer life would certainly improve! And since ecology is such an important issue for our kids, what if we were to do our best to recycle rather than waste the products we consume? What a fast that would be!
Have a great Lenten Season
✠ Yvan Mathieu, SM