(Mass download) (Lenten promises - samples) Lenten Promise

Ash Wednesday (2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)

2009 : Feb 25th

2008 : Feb 6th

2007: Feb 21st.

2006: March 1st,

2005 : Feb 9th,

  (double click to enlarge)

(photo Aidan Mitchell)

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a time during which we are invited to prepare for Easter and the coming of the risen Jesus into our life and our world.  It is a time of personal conversion.  Traditionally, there are three ways we can participate in this season of preparation and conversion: through prayer, fasting and giving alms.

The ashes are the remains of burnt palm branches kept from the Palm Sunday celebrations last year

http://www.stlukeswoodvale.wa.edu.au/home/johnson.scott/curriculum/mass/mass.html    Ash Wednesday liturgies resource

FROM THE BISHOP OF BROOME

FOR THE INFORMATION OF PARISHIONERS

         LENT

All members of the Christian faithful in their own way are bound to do penance in virtue of divine law; in order that they may all be joined in a common observance of penance, penitential days are prescribed in which the faithful in a special way pray, exercise works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their responsibilities more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence according to the norm of the canons. (c.1249)

ASH WEDNESDAY and GOOD FRIDAY are both days of abstinence from meat and fasting.

ALL OTHER FRIDAYS in lent are days of penance. Any one of the following fulfills such penance:

Prayer – for example, Mass attendance, family prayer, a visit to a church or chapel, reading the Bible, making the stations of the Cross, praying the rosary, attending prayer meetings.

Self-denial – for example, not eating meat, sugar, alcohol, dessert, sweets; giving up TV or other forms of entertainment; limiting our food and drink in-take, saving monies to donate to Project Compassion for those who need it most.

A special effort to help others.  Giving our time to people in need, making more of our precious time available to those who need assistance. Seeking out the elderly, the lonely, the sick, the over-burdened.

Who are bound to fast?      All the faithful who are over eighteen and under sixty.

Who are bound to abstain? All the faithful who have completed their fourteenth year.

Nevertheless, pastors and parents are to see to it that minors who are not bound by the law of fast and abstinence are educated in an authentic sense of penance.

What about the obligation to receive Holy Communion once a year?

Each of the faithful who has made their first Holy Communion are obliged to receive Holy Communion once a year between Ash Wednesday and Trinity Sunday (June 6th/04) unless for a good reason it is fulfilled at another time during the year. The obligation also exists to confess grave sins at least once a year.

In an age of comfort and materialism, it is easy to put aside the obligations we have to do penance. The Church as a day of penance marks each Friday. It is a useful time to focus on our own need for conversion and to enter into, in a minor way, the passion and death of Christ. Fridays in Lent including Good Friday take on a particular importance for us. Hence there are rules regarding fasting and abstinence. It is very important that children are educated to appreciate the value of fasting and abstinence in their lives…to do without, to deny themselves, for the greater love of God and others. It is my hope that parents, parishes and schools will strive to pass on this tradition to young people with enthusiasm and joy. Such an action is certainly counter cultural but it has a value that transcends all cultures and helps to make us more acutely aware of the place of Christ in our everyday lives.

Yours in Christ

+CHRISTOPHER SAUNDERS

 

Web links:

'This is the time’– Michael Mangan (2005 - Litmus)

 

 

 

LENT

12

This is the time

***

Good song

13

Out of ashes

***

Minor key, good song

14

Turn back to God

***

Good song

15

We turn to you

*

 

16

Justly, tenderly, humbly

****

Good song, Mass

17

Lenten acclamation

*

 

 

'Sing your joy' - Michael Mangan (1999)

12

Turn back to God

*** Good song

Reconciliation

13

Ashes

*** Good song

Ash Wednesday

 

'Come as you are' - Paul Gurr (1999)

1

Come as you are

**** Golden oldie

Reconciliation, Mass - Offertory