Catholic News Service reports that during his annual message marking Lent, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony “told Catholics that the country’s economic downturn has caused many people to already experience the season of Lent,” having begun in 2007 when people began losing their jobs.

In previous years, “when life and our financial security were far more predictable,” the cardinal noted, Lent was a limited time of special sacrifices before life went back to normal after Easter. “But now we have a new reality,” he said. “We aren’t choosing our sacrifices this year; they have chosen us. And they aren’t just for six weeks; they have been our burden for over 75 weeks now with no sign of relief in sight.”