A clean heart create for me, O God. Lent comes to us again with a necessary wake up call. That call is to greater self-awareness of the way in which I live my life and the preparedness of my soul for the gift of salvation. In Lent, we come to realize that no matter how well we started off the year or how good my intentions are to lead a worthy life, I will fall short. I can’t rely on my own strength to overcome temptation and draw closer to God.  I will sin, and I will fail without the merciful forgiveness of the Father. We listen to the words of the psalmist whose prayer is one of longing, not just a fresh start, but a clean heart and a heart that is steadfast on remaining true to the God who saves us. Once again, our Ash Wednesday celebrations were overwhelmingly well attended,...