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OBSERVING LENT 2010 with your Christian Community |
OBSERVING LENT IN THE HOME |
| Ashes Distribution | |
All the days, from Ash Wednesday to Pentecost, is our Paschal (Passover) season. The 40 days of Lent and the 50 days of Eastertime surround the Triduum (the three days from Holy Thursday evening through Easter Sunday evening). The entire season has a unity founded in the Easter Vigil and visibly expressed in the recalling of our preparation for initiation (Lent) and the continuing celebration of baptismal death and resurrection in Christ (Eastertime). To put it another way, we seek renewal and deeper conversion during Lent, that we might come to new life during Easter and, in turn, go forth at Pentecost with the power of the Spirit to transform the world.
OBSERVING LENT 2010
Lenten Feasting and Abstinence
Abstinence from meat is to be observed by all Catholics 14 years old and older on Ash Wednesday and on all the Fridays of Lent. Abstinence from all festive foods is encouraged on every day of Lent as part of the common discipline of this holy season.
Fasting is to be observed on Ash Wednesday by all Catholics who are 18 years of age but not yet 59. Those who are bound by this may take only one full meal. Two smaller meals are permitted only if necessary to maintain strength according to one's needs, but eating solid foods between meals is not permitted.
The special Paschal fast and abstinence are prescribed for Good Friday and encouraged for Holy Saturday.
By the threefold discipline of fasting, almsgiving and prayer the Church keeps Lent from Ash Wednesday until the evening of Holy Thursday. All of the faithful and the catechumens should undertake the serious practice of these three traditions. Failure to observe penitential days totally or a substantial number of such days must be considered serious.
Our US Bishops issued in 1966 this statement on penitential observance: "On Weekdays of Lent, we strongly recommend participation in daily Mass and self-imposed observances of fasting. In light of grave human needs which weigh on the Christion Conscience in all seasons, we urge particularly during Lent, generosity to local, national and world programs of sharing of all things needed to translate our duty to penance into a means of implementing the right of the poor to their part of our abundance." - The Office of Divine Worship, www.odw.org.
Lent begins with ashes on our foreheads, reminding us of fundamental truths about ourselves. The dust of the ashes reminds us that death is inevitable for each of us. The ashes are a sign of repentance and of our need to change our lives. The ashes remind us of a fire that has grown cold; a fire that needs to be re-kindled within us by the time we gather around the new fire at the Easter Vigil. Like a phoenix rising from ashes, we seek to rise from our sinfulness to a fuller life in Christ.
Ashes will be distributed at the 6:30am Mass (Old Church), 8:30am Mass (New Church), 4:00pm Family Prayer Service (New Church), and 7:00pm Mass (New Church).
Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend any of these services as we begin our Lent 2010 communal experience of spiritual renewal and recommitment to mission.
Nothing captures the sprit of Lent like the Stations of the Cross. For centuries, the church has encouraged this devotion as a popular way to pursue Lenten goals. Lent is a time for personal and communal conversion; a time of rebirth, of letting the Spirit create a new set of attitudes with us, reshaping us in the image of Christ. It is also, and most especially, a time for us to grow in active concern of the sick, the suffering, and the needy. Like Christ, we seek to walk with God's poor and to set free all who are afflicted, discriminated against, oppressed and pushed to the margins of life.
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Stations of the Cross will be in the Old Church every Friday in Lent at 7:00pm: February 19 February 26 March 5 March 12 March 19 March 26 |
Praying the Stations of the Cross allows us to walk with Jesus, confident that he will lead us into the presence of God.
We choose Jesus as the model of life's journey, of which our Lenten observance should be symbolic. Jesus' journey to the cross simply dramatizes what his whole life has been; and offering of praise to God and of loving service to humanity. this is what we want for our lives, too. Like the rest of his life, Jesus' passion and death were acts of praise, a response to God's infinite love for him. We, too, want to praise God in sharing Jesus' cross; not simply out of a dreary sense of responsibility or guilt, but as a grateful response to the good news of his burning love for us. In Jesus' loving face and wounded body, we have a powerful image of God's care for us and the entire world.
OBSERVING LENT in the HOME
Special seasons need special beginnings. The dramatic beginning of Lent, Ash Wednesday, is further highlighted by the celebration the day before of Shrove Tuesday, affectionately referred to as "Fat Tuesday" of, in French, "Mardi Gras". Our word carnival originally applied to this end-of-winter holiday; it meant "goodbye to the meat."
To say "goodbye to the meat," have a special family Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday celebration. splurge a little! Have the family's favorite meal, with lots of meat and special, luscious desserts. During the meal tell children the story of the origin of Fat Tuesday. Decorate the house with streamers and balloons. Have party hats, noisemakers, and maybe even masks. Play games or whatever else your family likes to do on special occasions. As bedtime approaches, quiet things down and have everyone discuss and write down how they want to improve during Lent (parents can help small children with this). burn the pieces of paper in the fireplace or tear them into tiny bits and put them in the trash. Thank to begin Lent, join hands and pray the Our Father. Afterwards, everyone helps to cleanup in silence.
In the spirit of Jesus' trip to the desert for prayer, develop a "desert place" in your home. Gather the family together to decide on a place in the house that can be designated a prayer corner. Choose a place where the family or individuals can go to pray, think or read and be assured of quite and privacy. Put a small table in the corner. Enthrone a Bible (a children's bible, too) on a purple or white cloth. Add a candle, a cross, and a cactus, if you have one, to give the idea of a desert place. Family members can add to the prayer corner whatever makes the space more conductive to prayerfulness for them. The important thing is that is remains a place set apart for prayer and quiet. Family member using the prayer corner may not be disturbed, even by phone calls!
Perhaps a family resolution for the week could be that each member of the family spends at least 10 minutes a day alone in the prayer corner. The prayer corner may also be used for praying together as a family.
Family Table Prayer During Lent
Before the evening meal begins, the family gathers at the table for a moment of silence. The leader (L) then speaks and all (A) respond as follows:
(L) Behold! Now is the acceptable time! (A) Now is the day of salvation!
(L) I was hungry: (A) And you gave me food,
(L) I was thirsty: (A) And you gave me drink,
(L) I was a stranger: (A) And you welcomed me.
(L) I was naked: (A) And you clothed me.
(L) I was ill: (A) And you comforted me.
(L) I was in jail: (A) And you visited me.
(L) Lord Jesus Christ, may our Lenten fasting turn us toward all our brothers and sisters 2who are in need. Bless this table, our food, and ourselves. Send us through Lent with good cheer and bring us quickly to the Passover of Christ. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (A) AMEN.
After the meal, the daily Scripture may be read from the Bible followed by some discussion of the reading, and concluding with prayer:
(L) Not on bread alone do we live (A) But on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Amen.
Participate in our parish Rice Bowl Project!
Lent originated because of Baptism. As Christianity spread and adults requested entrance into the community of faith, the Easter Vigil became the time new converts were initiated. Lent signaled the final stages in their preparation for Baptism. This tradition continues today in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). Consequently, Lent and Easter are the time when we who were baptized as infants renew our baptismal commitment so that we can be witnesses of gospel living and support those in our community, adults or children, who are preparing for Baptism and the other sacraments of initiation, Confirmation and Eucharist.
Talk as a family about the process of initiation. Try to attend the 10:00am Mass where our RCIA candidates are present. Show your children, thought you actions toward these candidates, what it means to be a living witness of the gospel. Take time after Mass to stop and talk with the candidates and make them feel welcome. Add a prayer for those preparing for Baptism to your family prayer.
Sometime during Lent, tell your children the story of their own Baptism. Place a bowl of water on a table in your prayer corner or somewhere else. Bring out photographs of everyone's Baptism. Find the white garments, baptismal candles and certificates, and put them out also. Tell each child about his or her Baptism. When and where did it take place? Who was there? Did the baby cry? Why did you choose these godparents? What were your feelings that day? Was there a party? If grandparents are available, invite them to tell the story of your Baptism. Close this time together with prayer:
Let us pray for ourselves and for all those who will be baptized this Easter season:
God of all that is good, guide us as we live your gospel.
Be with all those to be baptized
May the light of your life be always within them.
May your living water always refresh us all.
Amen.
As a further reminder of Baptism, invite all to dip a hand into the bowl of water on the table and sign themselves with the Sign of the Cross.