NO REGRETS!
  
“Even now, says the LORD,
   return to me with your whole heart."   Joel 2:12

Seven year old Calvin confides to his friend Hobbes, “I feel bad that I called Susie names and hurt her feelings. I am sorry I did it." “Maybe you should apologize to her," Hobbes suggests. Calvin ponders this for a moment and then replies, “I keep hoping that there is a less obvious solution."

For the most part, we share Calvin’s sense of repentance. We feel rotten about what we have done but regret is not repentance. Regret can be just an exercise in feeling sorry for ourselves. Regret heals no one and changes nothing. Repentance, on the other hand, is to change the attitude, change the circumstances, change the dynamics, in order to heal the hurt we have caused, to bridge the chasms we have created, to repair and rebuild what we have destroyed. Repentance demands honesty and humility, but we have become pretty good at avoiding these and finding ways to justify our self-centeredness and rationalize our self-interest.

And so, we come to another Lent, and the first reading from the prophet Joel summons us not to regret but to repentance. Perhaps this Lent, instead of just giving up certain foods or activities, you might need to give up regret and embrace a true spirit of repentance. While repentance is serious stuff, Lent is not a time for misery. Lent calls us to take a serious look into our hearts in order to see not just where we have failed, but also to discover within our hearts the grace to heal and restore and make things right.
Make this Lent a season for repentance rather than regret, a time for doing what is right rather than simply acknowledging what is wrong, a time for rediscovering where God is rather than where God is not. In the words of little Calvin, may this be for us all a season of “obvious” repentance!

Father Don
Friday Fun:

-Myself, and the staff here at St. Ladislas Church would like to wish you and your family a very lovely Valentine's Day. My God bless you, and keep you in His care, and may His blessing and His love, go with you everywhere.

-Reminder: Ash Wednesday is this Wednesday, the 17th. We have communion services at 7:30am and 4:30pm, as well as Masses at Noon and 7pm. All will have distribution of ashes. If you have questions about how distribution will occur, please head over to our website (www.stlads.org) and click on Lent @ St. Lads. It will give you all the information you will need.

-With Lent beginning, a friendly reminder that we have Stations of the Cross every Friday evening beginning on February 19th, with the last being on April 2nd. We will begin at 7pm in the Church. All are welcome to join.

-Catholic Charities Appeal 'Love Your Neighbor' is beginning. Next weekend, February 20/21st during Masses, I will be discussing more about this appeal and how you can help those that are in need. More information can also be found on our website (www.stlads.org), including a short video from Bishop Malesic.