Preparing for Lent 2008

Lent arrives next week, February 6th, with the Ash Wednesday Liturgy and the distribution of ashes. These ashes signify remorse, repentance and mourning; and are generally gathered from burning the previous year's palm fronds used during the Palm Sunday celebration.

Placing ashes on one's forehead is an Old Testament custom and biblical examples of this can be found in 2 Samuel 13:19, Esther 4:1-3, Job 42:6, and Jeremiah 6:26.

Our theme this Lenten season will be:

"Lord, renew and transform your people."

In order to help us accomplish this renewal and transformation in our lives, we will be encouraged to read and meditate on the Gospel of Matthew, Chapters 5-7 ~ The Sermon on the Mount.

As you read through these chapters, there will surely be a passage that will have special meaning for you during this Lenten season. Take the time to write this passage or even a single word on a slip of paper. Use the passage or word to concentrate on during Lent, in light of our theme, "Lord, renew and transform your people." During Holy Week, we will use those slips of paper as symbols of our transformation and renewal.

There will be other opportunities for you to draw closer to Our Lord's journey toward the Cross. After the Wednesday Mass, meditations on the Stations of the Cross will be recited. These Stations depict the final hours of Jesus and were originated by Francis of Assisi and extended to the entire Church during the Middle Ages.

On Sunday afternoon, February 10th from 2:00 - 5:00 p.m., Fr. Maurice Nutt will lead a Retreat for our parishioners at St. Elizabeth's.

Finally, at noon on Saturday, March 1st, there will be a Reconciliation Service held at St. John Catholic Church in Highland Springs for our cluster of parishes.


~ Christian Graphics courtesy of Crystal Cloud Graphics