One of my "little" joys this week was to learn from a proud mother parishioner that her two youngest daughters (still little children) enjoyed watching on our YouTube channel the morning show of "Fr. Alain and Fr. Ben" praying the daily reflections of the 33-day Consecration to St Joseph. I was rather puzzled, and I questioned these little children: "what have you learned about St Joseph? " and I got the most beautiful answer:

Every year as we celebrate Ash Wednesday, we hear God say to us through the Prophet Joel, "RETURN TO ME WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning ...and RETURN TO THE LORD, YOUR GOD. For gracious and merciful is HE, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment." (Joel 2:12-13). This is a joyful way to enter into the 40 days of Lent. The Prophet Joel gives us HOPE. The kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem had just experienced a great disaster (locust invasion) and Joel announces the coming of a much worse, unprecedented disaster unless the people turn back to God. If Joel were alive today, would his message to us be the same? Most of us would say...