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(The Most Reverend John J. Myers, Archbishop of Newark, addresses the 1.3 million Catholics of the Archdiocese on the Season of Lent and preparing for Easter. This column will appear in the March 5, 2003 edition of The Catholic Advocate, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Newark.) After the spell of weather that we have been through this past month, I am sure each of you is looking forward with boundless hope, just as I am, to spring. In earlier times, people thought of spring as the beginning of the New Year. When you think of warm sunshine, fresh shoots of green grass, tulips and crocus -- all signs to remind us about the renewal of life -- it is easy to think of spring in terms of new beginnings. Today we start Lent, the beginning of springtime in the Church. The signs of renewal and new life in the Spirit -- ashes, palm, the Cross, the water of Baptism – are present for us to see and to savor. Like grass, flowers and warm sun, these liturgical signs remind us to share with our Lord Jesus Christ His death and Resurrection. The promise of Redemption is fulfilled. This year we need to be especially involved in prayer and penance for peace in the world. I ask members of this Archdiocese to observe the Fridays of Lent as special days of prayer and sacrifice for world peace. There are events during Lent, too, that recall the promise. On the first Sunday of Lent, for example, some 1200 women and men, young and old alike will indicate their desire to celebrate the sacraments of initiation into the Church through the Rite of Election and the Call to Continuing Conversion. As the community of the Church of Newark, we celebrate and rejoice in their desire to accept new life in the faith. And at the Chrism Mass at the beginning of Holy Week, the assembly in the Cathedral Basilica will witness the renewal of the ordination promises of the priests of this Archdiocese, and the blessing of the sacred oils, visible signs of our status as a holy, priestly people. We share these signs of witness, and our belief in the promise of the Redemption, with the universal Church. Also in this issue of The Catholic Advocate our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, calls us, as he calls all Catholics, to prepare for Easter by serious discernment about our lives, and to “make courageous decisions inspired by altruism and generosity.” I heartily echo the words of His Holiness, and ask that each of us consider prayerfully ways in which we can abandon our worldliness in order to clear our minds and hearts to our mission as Catholic Christians. Because this is a Year of the Rosary, I would also recommend heartily that each of you begin or expand on the practice of saying the Rosary. Through the Rosary, we have a most powerful avenue through the Blessed Mother to help us grow closer to her Son, Jesus. The depth of this devotion, so strongly reinforced through the miracles at Fatima, can be a source of both healing and strength as we prepare for Easter.
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