Ash Wednesday, February 10, 2016, marks the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent. The highest point of the Church’s year is the Easter Triduum (Holy Thursday evening through Easter Sunday) during which we recount the death and resurrection of Jesus the Lord. We prepare for this three-day period by the season of Lent, and prolong it for the great 50 days of the Easter Season. The celebration of Easter, of being reborn in the Risen Lord to a new life, will only have meaning to the degree that “we die to the old self.” Thus, the Church asks us to live this period of Lent, with Christ in the desert, as a period of forty days devoted to inward renewal through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Let us prayerfully consider before Lent how we might make the best use of this time to imitate the Lord in His dedication to the Father so that His resurrection may take deep root in our thoughts, words and actions throughout Lent and forever.
Ash Wednesday Masses:
8:00 a.m. and 12:10 p.m. in the Centre Chapel and 7:00 p.m. in the parish church.
Stations of the Cross:
A great Lenten spiritual devotion held on Friday evenings during Lent after the 7:00 p.m. Mass on the First and Last Friday of the month and at 7:00 p.m. every other Friday.
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fasting (one meal and two lighter meals with no eating between meals), and abstinence (no eating of meat). The law of abstinence obliges those 14 years of age and older, and the law of fasting obliges all those from 18 through 59 years of age. The Church recommends that we observe not only Good Friday, but the other Fridays of Lent as days of abstinence, or that we perform some act of charity as an alternative—the choice is yours. Lenten penances should be external and social, as well as internal and individual; meaning they should help us grow in our relationship with God and in charity for our brothers and sisters.
Lenten Reconciliation Services:
- Day of Confessions: Saturday, March 12, 2016 in the church from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- Saturday, March 19, 2016 from 1:00 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. in the church
- Good Friday, March 25, 2016 from after the 3:00 p.m. Good Friday Service until 6:30 p.m.
During the season of Lent, the parish will begin Eucharistic Adoration in the Centre Chapel. Please consider signing up for an hour of prayer each week to spend time with the Lord.
