Dear Friend, 

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Lenten Reflection by Msgr. Joseph Reilly, S.T.L., Ph.D.

For weeks I have known how I wanted to begin my reflections for Lent this year, as we focus on Psalm 27:8 – “Your face, O Lord, do I seek.”  There is one face (other than my own!) that I look upon every morning before opening the door to leave my apartment: Blessed Mother.  I have a framed picture of the face of Our Lady taken from the tilma where she impressed her image after appearing to St. Juan Diego in Guadalupe nearly five centuries ago.  As I stand before her face, I pray the prayer that St Francis spoke to Lord before the Crucifix of San Damiano in Assisi.  It was the front of my prayer card for my priestly ordination in 1991.

This momentary pause before setting out upon my day, whatever it may hold, is a simple gesture that has taken on great significance in my life, as I am seeking to live with a deeper sense of intentionality.  All of our lives are busy.  And they seem to get more so as one year passes into the next.  But busyness is by no means holiness.  Jesus calls us to closeness with him, and with the Father, in the Holy Spirit.  That’s what we want, down deep.  That’s what God made us for – communion.  As I set out each day, I want this desire in my mind and heart.  As you and I set out on this Lenten Journey yet again, may this desire be powerfully and palpably before us.  God is inviting us during this Holy Season to live with intentionality.    

“There is always a gap between our intention and ability,

and that gap is bridged by God’s grace.”

(Sr. Mary David Totah, OSB)

The Lord Jesus through his Holy Church understands that growing closer to God isn’t just a matter of my good intention and or your dogged efforts.  It is about giving into and cooperating with the transformative action of the Holy Spirit.  The three traditional “disciplines” of Lent – prayer, fasting and almsgiving – are the pathways we embark upon during this graced time.  As we have just “opened the door” to our Lenten Journey, and we gaze upon Our Lady’s face, may the prayer of St Francis before the Crucifix spur us on and give us hope:

Most high glorious God,
cast your light
into the darkness of my heart.
Instill in me correct faith,
certain hope,
perfect love
and a profound humility
with wisdom and perception,
in order that
I may ever do
what is truly
Your Holy Will.

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Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly, S.T.L., Ph.D., Vice Provost for Academics and Catholic Identity Seton Hall University and Rector/Dean Emeritus, Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology . He holds a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, a licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) from Pontificio Istituto Teresianum, Rome, and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Fordham University. He has served as a member of the Archdiocesan Priest Personnel Board, the Advisory Committee on Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests, the Archdiocesan Vocations Board, and the Board of Trustees of Seton Hall University. Pope John Paul II named him a Chaplain to His Holiness in 2005, with the title of Reverend Monsignor. In 2016 during the Holy Year of Mercy, the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization sought priests who were living signs "of the Father's welcome to all those in search of His forgiveness." He was the only priest from the Archdiocese of Newark formally commissioned as a Missionary of Mercy by Pope Francis.