March 14, 2010 
Dear Parishioners,
What does it mean to be a disciplined person? If you watched the Olympics a couple of weeks ago on TV, one realizes what discipline is all about. The athletes went through years of practice, exercise and pain and never counted the cost in order to compete for a medal. That is really discipline and the very thing so many people are complaining is lacking in our society today.
The lack of discipline permeates many areas of our lives. Study habits of our children have been greatly weakened because of poor discipline. Sometimes it’s the parents not setting proper conditions; sometimes it’s the children not properly using the time for study. Our nation has fallen behind in some areas of production and technology and some of this has been attributed to poor discipline.
We all know how poor discipline is affecting our physical well being by over eating, overdrinking, over smoking, the use of drugs or too little exercise. But the lack of discipline impacts on our spiritual formation, too. It takes discipline to have a schedule of prayer and stick to it faithfully. It takes discipline to be a daily communicant or a Sunday worshipper. The undisciplined give up so easily and can find excuses for whatever they don’t want to do.
None of us is perfect. No Olympic gold medal winner is perfect either. But I venture to say that such athletes know their weaknesses and with discipline overcome them. We all know people who readily give up when something requires a disciplined approach. We all want instant results and don’t have much patience with what is tedious, whether it is physical, mental or spiritual. We are in part victims of our present society’s ills.
The Olympics are not just good entertainment. They are a reminder of what can happen when people of all ages develop their talents and are disciplined in their training. Lent is the perfect time to start over and shape up.

Sincerely yours,