2 February 2026 – BELOVED FAITHFUL – With the first Sunday of February, the pre-Lenten season begins this year, with the Sunday of Septuagesima. These three weeks of preparation for the holy season of Lent give us the opportunity to grow gradually into the great penitential time of the forty days that precede the feast of Easter.
Fasting is not an end in itself, but a means that must be used to attain a true goal, namely liberation through redemption. In order to receive this redemption fruitfully within us, we are in need of purification. Everything that is to be sanctified is first purified; and fasting must bring this about in us: that we are willing and indeed must be purified.
Traditionally, fasting is observed in that from Ash Wednesday onward we abstain from meat, except on Sundays. During Lent we may also strive to reduce our dependence on television and social media to what is absolutely necessary.
In this way, space is created for true interior growth and for an increasing love of God, and we shall rediscover a freedom that enables us to go through life as more mature persons, more deeply rooted in God.
I wish you God’s abundant blessing.
✠ With my priestly blessing,
Fr. M. Kromann Knudsen, FssP, pastor