Q&A with Bishop John

the season of Lent gives us time to just reflect on our lives um it's a chance to start over again um a chance to prepare to receive the gifts that will come at Easter it it kind of I think it's used to sub to us that um it is not the high joyzis and so it's not Christmas it's not the excitement of Christmas the excitement of Easter um and so it kind of slows us down it kind of gives us that um sometimes that cave mentality we go into the cave and we sit quietly I I enjoy all the activities um again just because in a sense they pull us out of every day so what whether it's Stations of the Cross whether it's Retreats whether it's prayer services reconciliation it's like okay this isn't just ordinary this is something different and it calls us to part of that I don't actually ever give something up I I that's just not me but I hope and I usually try am I doing more good works am I taking time uh to be with family and friends end with God do I take the time um that to me is necessary to build a relationship with anyone including God and so for me that would be my goal do I give more friends and God right people will look at and say got to go to confession oh you know this is I can't eat this or I can't do that any rules we have in the church I always say they're actually there hoping we get closer to God they're not supposed to make it so it's it's like we're depressed or uh feeling pain um God wants us to be happy God doesn't want us to be um sad and so but the rules sometimes help us think about say oh okay I need to work on this I need to work on this area of my life and um I can bring more joy into the world I can be more hopeful I can be more light workplace in my family and friends I think so often we focus on sin um we focus on sin and we focus on you know get rid of our sin sins always going to be here and so um saying it's that bad to get rid of our sin but it's really a positive it's it's changed uh something new something good uh more light more hope in the world to me that's what lent gives us well if there was 1 thing I recommend going to the Tae evening prayer so whether it's choosing to celebrate reconciliation or just sit in the taizo evening prayer I can't I think you can't come out without feeling different um that would be 1 uh I think training Community because I sometimes think oh people take you know um private time that goes by the wayside pretty quick so if you commit to whether it's morning Mass whether it's um The Retreat whether it's uh adoration um you commit to being with a community and chances are that commitment will last I it will be a Feeling if I've done lent well in the past the excitement every week in Easter is tangible you can feel it and so my hope would be that others would um participate in the Lenten practices and they will see a difference and difference when it comes to Easter um and the time after I have the FAA I come from a family of Bakers and so weirdly on the day you need to fast Good Friday my family used to bake about 20 or 30 Lambs and then we would decorate them um and and you couldn't eat them so uh but as a child it was wonderful to watch that to see that happening uh you know so color eggs on Good Friday that we couldn't eat um becomes Saturday morning uh some people wait till Easter but my family on Saturday morning uh we we could have a lamb so so for me that was part of uh Easter was like okay we're here we're ready and we prepared