BEGINNING OF LENT:

ASH WEDNESDAY:

Feb. 6th, 2008.

DAY OF UNIVERSAL FAST AND ABSTINENCE.

Holy Masses with distribution of Ashes in our church: 8.00am (E); 10.30am - NOLM ;

12.30pm TLM; 6.00pm TLM & 7.30PM (E).

      

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Why do we receive the ashes? - Following the example of the Ninevites, who did penance in sackcloth and ashes, our foreheads are marked with ashes to humble our hearts and remind us that life passes away on Earth. We remember this when we are told: "Remember, Man; you are  dust, and to  dust you will  return." Ashes are a symbol of penance made sacramental by the blessing of the Church, and they help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice. The distribution of ashes comes from a ceremony of ages past. Christians who had committed grave faults performed public penance. On Ash Wednesday, the Bishop blessed the hair shirts which they were to wear during the forty days of penance, and sprinkled over them ashes made from the palms from the previous year. Then, while the faithful recited the Seven Penitential Psalms, the penitents were turned out of the church because of their sins  just as Adam, the first man, was turned out of Paradise because of his disobedience. The penitents did not enter the church again until Maundy Thursday after having won reconciliation by the toil of forty days' penance and sacramental absolution. Later, all Christians, whether public or secret penitents, came to receive ashes out of devotion.

The ashes are made from the blessed palms used in the Palm Sunday celebration of the previous year. The ashes are christened with Holy Water and are scented by exposure to incense. While the ashes symbolize penance and contrition, they are also a reminder that God is gracious and merciful to those who call on Him with repentant hearts. His Divine Mercy is of utmost importance during the season of Lent, and the Church calls on us to seek that mercy during the entire Lenten season with reflection, prayer and penance.

Fasting, Abstinence and Works of Mercy:

In 1966 Pope Paul VI reorganized the Church's practice of public penance in his "Apostolic Constitution on Penance" (Poenitemini). The 1983 revision of the Code of Canon Law incorporated the changes made by Pope Paul VI. Not long after that, the U.S. bishops applied the canonical requirements to the practice of public penance in our country. To sum up those requirements, Catholics

between the ages of 18 and 59 are obliged to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. In addition, all Catholics 14 years old and older must abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all the Fridays of Lent. Fasting, as explained by the U.S. bishops, means partaking of only one full meal. Some food (not equaling another full meal) is permitted at breakfast and around midday or in the evening—depending on when a person chooses to eat the main or full meal. Abstinence forbids the use of meat, but not of eggs, milk products or condiments made of animal fat.

       Each year, in publishing the Lenten penance requirements, the U.S. bishops quote the teaching of the Holy Father concerning the seriousness of observing these days of penance. The obligation to do penance is a serious one; the obligation to observe, as a whole, or "substantially”, the days of penance is also serious. Moral theologians remind us that some people are excused from fasting and/or abstinence because of sickness or other reasons.

       In his "Apostolic Constitution on Penance”, Pope Paul VI did more than simply reorganize Church law concerning fast and abstinence. He reminded us of the divine law that each of us in our own way do penance. We must all turn from sin and make reparation to God for our sins. We must forgive and show love for one another just as we ask for God's love and forgiveness.

       The Code of Canon Law and our bishops remind us of other WORKS OF MERCY and means of doing penance: prayer, acts of self-denial, almsgiving and works of personal charity. Attending Mass daily or several times a week, praying the Holy Rosary, making the Stations  of the Cross, attending the Parish Retreat, teaching the illiterate to read, reading to the blind, helping at a soup kitchen, visiting the sick and shut-ins and giving an overworked mother a break by baby-sitting - all of these can be even more meaningful and demanding than simply abstaining from meat on Friday.

 

PLEASE TAKE HOME

“RICE BOWL”

 Collection on Ash Wednesday is for the Saint Vincent de Paul Society to feed the hungry people in Oakland. We are also collecting imperishable food items. In the vestibule of our church barrels for food are placed. PLEASE SHARE YOUR FOOD WITH HUNGRY PEOPLE.

 

150thANNIVERSARY OF  THE APPARITIONS OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES

       Four years after proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady appeared to a young French girl, Bernadette Soubirous  in 1858, 18 times between February 11 and July 16 in Lourdes in southern France. On the feast of the Annunciation on March 25th