Our Lenten season has begun. In the Old Testament reading at Mass on Ash Wednesday, the Prophet Joel reminded the people to “return to the Lord, your God. For gracious and merciful is He.” Then, in the Responsorial Psalm we joined King David’s plea for God’s mercy from Psalm 51 as we proclaimed, “Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.” In these 40 days of Lent, as we see more clearly the high ethical ideals and moral demands of discipleship, we come to realize our total dependence on God’s grace and our profound need of salvation.