For This Penitential Season …

The church draws on the wisdom of the Scriptures and tradition in suggesting a time of intense prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

Catholics in the United States are obliged to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays during the season of lent. Catholics are also obliged to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Self-imposed observance of fasting on all weekdays of Lent is strongly recommended, as is abstinence from meat on all Fridays of the year.

Good Friday is on April 6th this year.

Fasting. On a day of fasting, one full meal is allowed. Two other meals, sufficient to maintain strength, may be taken according to each one’s needs, but together they should not equal the other full meal. Eating between meals is not permitted, but liquids, including milk and juices, are permitted. The obligation of fasting binds Catholics who are 18-59 years old.

Abstinence. On days of abstinence, eating of meat is not allowed. The obligation of abstinence applies to those 14 years and older. The law does not oblige when health or ability to work would be seriously affected.

Stations of the Cross

This year St. Mary’s will offer two opportunities to attend and participate in the Stations of the Cross.

These will be at 12:10 pm and 6:00 pm each Friday.

Soup Nights

Lent is once again fast approaching. Along with the usual Lenten Services we will once again be having Lenten Soup Nights.

Please mark your calendar for all the Mondays during Lent for soup nights. They will begin on Feb. 26th and the last one will be April 2nd.

We will start eating at 6:00 pm each Monday. Come and join us for good soups and wonderful camaraderie.

For more information contact Pat Cook at 642-2263.

The Season of Lent

THE SEASON OF LENT
Retreating into the wilderness with Jesus

Lent is a forty-day period before Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday, the seventh Wednesday before Easter, and ends on the day before Easter Day. We skip Sundays when we count the forty days, because Sundays commemorate the Resurrection.

In the roman Catholic Church, Lent officially ends at sundown on Holy Thursday, with the beginning of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. In most churches, the decorations are purple or blue, royal colors to prepare for the King.

Ash Wednesday: February 21, 2007
The Annunciation: March 25, 2007

Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism.

By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days. All churches that have a continuous history extending before AD 1500 observe Lent.

The ancient church that wrote, collected, canonized, and propagated the New Testament also observes Lent, believing it to be a commandment from the apostles.

Fasting is a spiritual discipline that does not involve starvation or dehydration. Quite often, our bodily appetites control our actions. The purpose of fasting is to make your bodily appetites your servant rather than your master.

SPECIAL DAYS

The purpose of the Liturgical calendar is to relive the major events in jesus’ life in real time, which is why Lent is forty days long. If Jesus were born on December 25th, then His conception would have been nine months earlier on about March 25th. That is when the
angel Gabriel would have announced Jesus’ birth to Mary. Thus March 25th is known in the historic church as The Annunciation.

The season of Lent is just ahead. We would like to encourage participation in the Stations of The Cross by asking parishioners, as we have done in the past, to read the reflection during each station. We will need at least 14 participants at each service to do this. It is hoped that by offering the Stations at 12:10 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on Fridays, our parishioners who work will now be able to attend this opportunity to reflect on the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.

We also want to encourage members of our Hispanic community to attend and participate in the readings. This is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to enrich our Lenten observance and prepare for Holy Week and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday.