In his Ash Wednesday homily at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington Feb. 18, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge began with a reference to a novel he recently finished reading.
“The author raised a question to make a significant point,” said Bishop Burbidge. “He stated there were five seagulls on a dock and one decided to fly away and then asked: How many were left on the dock? Perhaps, like me, you said four. But the correct answer is five. As the author pointed out the one seagull only decided to fly away but never flapped its wings and did so. The message: There is no power in intention alone.”
Bishop Burbidge used the seagull example to illustrate the folly of only deciding about what we are going to do to make Lent fruitful. “We may have decided to stay away from unnecessary social media so we can pray consistently and allow more time for silence in our lives,” he said. “We are going to fast from some of our favorite foods or snacks, maybe even fast, as Pope Leo suggested this year, from uncharitable speech and harsh words. We are going to practice almsgiving and find ways to be charitable with our time and resources.”
But the bishop reminded all that deciding to does not equate to doing. “How can we avoid the trap of having good intentions and yet so quickly fall from doing what we promised?” he asked. “It all begins by realizing that our best intentions are never enough. We can only say yes to what we promise through the Lord’s grace and with total reliance upon him, the one without whom we can do nothing.”
Bishop Burbidge strongly recommended beginning the Lenten season by going to confession to express “contrition for any of your sins and your desire to be reconciled with the Lord, his church, and one another,” he said. “Then, make a list of what you have decided to do this Lent and at the end of each day, review the extent to which you did what you promised. If there is a day that you fail, do not despair nor give up for in his mercy the Lord allows us to begin anew each day.”
Joining with Catholics throughout the world, Bishop Burbidge prayed that we would all be “strengthened with the gift of the Holy Eucharist and the Lord’s amazing grace and divine mercy,” he said. “That on Easter Sunday we will be counted among those who did all that we promised leading to the new life that is ours in Christ Jesus Our Lord.”
