Deacon's Neil’s Page With the annual ritual of marking our foreheads with ashes, we begin another Lenten season – another opportunity to review our lives and make those course corrections to allow us to be in harmony with the wishes and desires of our God for us and in thanksgiving for the sacrifice offered by his Son on the cross. Whatever penance or spiritual exercise you choose for this Lent, may it be for you a way to come closer to God as we prepare for the greatest feast in the Church year – the feast of the Resurrection. In a previous message on this web page, I mentioned the three goals I had set for myself in this 2009-2010 fiscal year. I plan to give you a more detailed report on how we are progressing on these goals in the near future. The goals, if you may recall, were 1) to set in motion a program for evangelization of those who may have drifted from the practice of their faith; 2) to help all our parishioners become more aware of the importance of our weekly gathering for liturgy; and 3) to make what strides we could to improve the fiscal situation of the parish (since for a time our expenses have been outpacing our revenues). During this Lent, please keep these three goals for our parish in mind. Pray for the success of our evangelization efforts; pray for an awareness of the importance our weekly liturgies; and pray that we may be able to meet our financial responsibilities. Pray also for those who have suffered during these past weeks and months: the people of Haiti and Chile, those affected by the various storms that have hit different parts of our country, and especially the most vulnerable in our society: the unborn, the addicted, those with mental and physical problems, and the elderly. May we look forward to a blessed Easter season.