Our Lenten Journey to Easter…Where are you?

It’s hard to believe that we are halfway through our Lenten journey. How are you doing? Are you staying true to your intentions, your self-sacrifice(s), keeping up with the tenants of Prayers, Fasting, and Almsgiving during Lent? Or do you find yourself stumbling at every possible turn? Have you put yourself in situations where you are attempting to rediscover and find your true self? These are questions I have asked myself since the start of Lent. 

 

On Thursday, March 9, as part of the Lenten Speaker Series, our Holy Spirit Music Ministry featuring Richard Plato presented “THIRSTY? An Evening of Prayer, Praise, Scripture, and Worship”. Leading up to this event, I had been feeling weary and exhausted in getting things ready for it. I had just completed a three-day choir tour with the Diablo Valley College Chamber Singers the week before. The Lenten season is underway and keeping up with day-to-day activities became taxing. I was content with the work I was doing but felt physically and spiritually depleted from it all. Thankfully, those who were planning the event behind the scenes did a fantastic job taking care of all things leading up to that evening. When we began our first song, the opening lyrics hit home, “Leave it all behind,” and that’s what I did. 

 

I let myself go. 

I felt like God was trying to set me free from my burdens,
set me free from the shackles that have held me down. 

I played my heart out and left it all out there for Jesus. 

I laughed, smiled, and cried at different times. 

My thirst was quenched. My spirit, filled. My hunger, satisfied. 

I am ready to take on the challenges that I now face leading to our glorious celebration of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. 

 

God doesn’t want us to carry our burdens. God asks us to lay them down at the foot of the cross and leave it there. I rediscovered my purpose and why I do what I do. I was transformed at Thursday’s event and found myself in the process. Finding yourself seems like an inherently self-centered goal, but it is an unselfish process that is at the root of everything we do in life. These small “wins” help us get through our toughest challenges, and I sincerely hope that your Lenten journey is filled with more W’s than L’s as we approach Easter. 

 

So I ask one more time, where are you in your Lenten journey? 

 

 

The Holy Spirit Music Ministry needs singers and instrumentalists interested in joining us for Holy Week preparations (April 6-9). Please feel free to speak with me after Mass, or if you still need time to consider, email me at timothy.mascarinas@dsj.org. Rehearsals will take place on the following days, in Church, and will cover music for specific days in Holy Week. 

 

Tues, March 21 6:30-8pm (Holy Thursday and Easter Vigil Music) 

Wed, March 22 6:30-8pm (Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday) 

 

Mon, March 27 6:30-8pm (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday) 

Tues, March 28 6:30-8:30pm (Easter Vigil, specific selections from other days) 

 

Mon, April 3, Church, 6:30-8pm (All) 

Tues, April 4 Church, 6-8pm (All) 

 

 

My time as choir director for the DVC Chamber Singers ends with a final concert on Saturday, May 6, 8pm, at the Performing Arts Center (PAC) on the Diablo Valley College campus in Pleasant Hill (near Concord). I am conducting one major piece, “Nänie” by Johannes Brahms for choir and orchestra. Tickets and information can be found through this link: 

https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?actions=22&p=1 

 

 

For those interested in viewing our Praise & Worship night at Holy Spirit, you can access here on YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ5lWGQf36c 

 

 

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! 

 

Peace and all good, 

Tim Mascarinas, director of music