The Tar Heel Knight

I hope you are all having a JOY-ous Lent so far.  Why did I capitalize JOY?  What am I up to?  Well, those of you who attended the Catholic Men’s Conference of the Carolinas may know.  At the end of his talk, the Catholic rapper E-Knock gave us that acronym for what our priorities as Catholic men should be.  J – Jesus first, O – others next, Y – yourself last.  And that provides for a good mindset as we journey through Lent (you can’t spell journey without j-o-y).  After all, the three pillars of Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  What do all three of those have in common?  I’ll wait while the “Jeopardy” (a game show with j-o-y in its title) theme music plays in your head.
 
Of course, they are all forms of sacrifice.  We sacrifice our time to get closer to Jesus during Lent through prayer:  we make a small sacrifice through fasting, designed to help unite us to Jesus and his desert experience – at a bare minimum, we are to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and abstain from meat on Fridays (note:  if you go to Red Lobster every Friday during Lent, you’re missing the point).  Lastly, we sacrifice some of our treasure through almsgiving for the benefit of others (that “O” in JOY).  Through our small sacrifices, we can take time to reflect on the ultimate sacrifice:  the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world, through his Passion, Death, and Resurrection, which we celebrate at the end of this month. 
 
This month, we also celebrate the institution of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday.  But what else happens at the Holy Thursday Mass?  The washing of the feet.  In the Gospel of that day, Jesus washes the feet of the disciples and instructs them to go out and do the same.  He calls his disciples and, by extension, all of us, to serve each other.  How can we refuse to stoop for the benefit of our brothers and sisters when our Lord has stooped for us? 
 
We are truly blessed to be a part of this Order, which provides us with so many opportunities to serve others, to “wash their feet” as we are called to do.  I would like to issue this Lenten challenge to all councils – look through the Faith in Action book and find some program that your council has never done before – and do it this year.  Or perhaps implement your own program if you have a good idea.  Supreme’s Sacramental Gifts program and Build-A-Bed program originated in North Carolina.  Maybe your council will launch the next Supreme program.  It is easy for so many of us to do the same programs that work year after year.  Let this be the year to get out of our comfort zone and to go out and find a new way to go forth with JOY to bring Jesus to the people and places that need Him most.
 
I hope to see many of you at our State Convention in Durham in May.  Don’t forget that this is the month your councils need to elect their delegates.  We will be electing a new State Warden for next year, as I prepare to hand off my beloved forms to the next in line.
 
“I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” – John 13:15
 
Vivat Jesus!