Dear Members of the Knights of Columbus:

Jesus tells us not to make a display of our Religious doings - and yet - on Ash Wednesday, March 8th, the day of our Council meeting we leave Church with a big black smudge of ashes on our forehead. Everyone will see it as a mark of our piety, for everyone who sees us will know we have been to Church.

The ashes on our forehead are not a declaration of our virtue - rather it is a declaration of our sinfulness. Hopefully we don't have to declare all our sins - but this season does ask us to reflect on what it meant to be marked with a cross on our forehead at baptism. Wearing the cross of ashes we do not proclaim our virtue - but our intention to take a serious look at ourselves and strive to conform more and more to Jesus.

What are your Lenten resolutions?

Msgr James Supple