Brothers and sisters – I once again pray that this finds you happy, healthy and holy! I also pray that this short season of Ordinary Time has been a fruitful one for you. As you read this, Lent is either rapidly approaching OR your forehead has already been smeared with ashes and Lent has begun. As I have mentioned before, there is perhaps no better time than now, LENT, for us to examine just how we are actually living our lives. How we live and what we do in this life truly matters! Are we living a life for God, who lest we forget IS the one responsible for that blessed “breath” you literally just took, not to mention the eyes in which you use to read this correspondence? OR, are we living a life solely for ourselves, for our own personal gain and our own worldly pleasure?

Each and every Ash Wednesday, our faces are gently rubbed in the reality and reminder that we are but dust and to dust we shall return. This is a time where we are reminded that we are weak and frail, we are broken, flawed and we are not, I repeat, we are NOT invincible — for we are defenseless against the onslaught of decay which happens in a sense every single day. And so, brothers and sisters, Lent is a time for perspective and it’s a time for refocusing! It’s a time for us to enter into the desert like Christ and with Christ to offer true scrutiny and repentance for our own sins.

With that, I would like to offer some spiritual guidance for your Lenten journey. I like to call them the 3 R’s and they truly serve as a powerful spiritual tool. The
first R that I submit to you is “REJECT.” Brothers and sisters, remember that by the grace of your own baptism, you have been given the grace and the strength to REJECT anything that is not of God – anger, envy, judgement, lust, gossip, gluttony, shame, guilt, fear, and everything in between – literally anything NOT from God. Be bold and In The Name of Jesus, REJECT it outright! Do it as often as you must. As Catholics we are really good at repetition (haha), so if you have to REJECT things a thousand times a day, it is totally worth it. These are spirits not from God, so reject the ever living hell out of them! For example, “In the name of Jesus, I reject you, spirit of envy, I reject you spirit of lust, I reject you spirit of comparison.” Remember, the only way the enemy can “get in,” is through our own free will – we have to let him in. He cannot touch us otherwise, many people forget that, hence why boldly REJECTING his advances with this tool and tactic is so powerful.

The second R I offer to you is “REMOVE.” There exist in our lives many things that we would greatly benefit from REMOVING, or at the very least, limiting. I
encourage you to prayerfully consider those particular things in your life – perhaps it’s certain people who are less than life-giving, who are actually soul-sucking,
and constantly lead you to no place good, or who even just have a knack for stealing your peace. Perhaps it’s certain sinful activities that have become habitual.
For many it’s certain Apps on the phone, especially social media Apps. Might I suggest, contemplating the REMOVAL of at least the easy access of a phone App –
keep the social media if you must, but remove the easily accessible App. So, think about it, what are some things, people, or behaviors that I could stand to remove or limit in my life?

The third and final R is “REPLACE.” Brothers and sisters, it’s one thing to reject and remove things, but if we do not infill the space left by said removal, something very nefarious can easily move back into that place and space – this is scriptural! So I encourage you to think about some things that you could employ or engage to REPLACE those things rejected and removed, even if it’s just the time once spent on those things. This can be literally anything happy, healthy and holy. For example, put together a song playlist and when you remove yourself from a situation, go sit in a quiet spot and get lost in the music. Have a few good books at the ready – spiritual readings and a good fiction book – always a good replacement. Go for a run, go lift some light weights, call a friend, build with some legos for crying out loud (haha), take up knitting, work on a puzzle, scrapbook, pray a Rosary, bake some cookies, watch a good uplifting movie — I think you get the point! During this Lenten season find or create other outlets and dare I say, engage in some new or resurrected hobbies to help counteract and replace the things we are (with the Lord’s help) trying to chip away at.

I pray that these recommendations might serve as a framework, plan, or at least encouragement for you as we all embark on this desert journey together. Please be assured of my prayers for all of you and until we meet again here in these pages, I will see you through our Lord Jesus Christ present IN the Eucharist at every Mass.

In Christ,
Fr. Jared Cooke