Our Lenten journey begins

on Ash , February 10th

Like clay in the hands of the Potter, our lives are crafted by God. Life and experiences, bad choices and wrong moves break us. But restoration is possible because of the love of a gracious God, through Christ. Come! Join FR. TOM and your FAMILY as we look at the ways our brokenness is restored as we travel through the 40 days of on the road to the cross and the empty tomb. OPPORTUNITIES TO ENRICH YOUR LENTEN JOURNEY

We are now beginning the Season of Lent. This is a spiritual time for each of us to begin preparing ourselves to make the best use of this time of Lent for the deepening of our faith life. During Lent our parish will be offering the several spiritual opportunities for each of us to attend: Week Day and Weekend Masses

 Try to attend one extra Mass during the week

 Every evening during Lent - 6:00 PM Holy Mass to Follow – 6:30 PM (Followed by a meager meal) Sacrament of Reconciliation

 Saturday from 3:00 – 4:00 PM Or by Appointment

Divine Mercy Chaplet Will be prayed 20 minutes before the start of Sunday Mass. Come pray with us! WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THIS LENTEN SEASON? Lent is about focusing on your need for God in your life and aiming to simplify or enrich your life. Whether that means or giving up something, or whether that means adding something to your life. There is no greater than the prayer of Jesus to the Father through the Holy Spirit in the Holy Mass in which we participate.

FAST: Fasting is to be observed on Ash Wednesday, Fridays and by everyone 18 years and older, who had not yet celebrated their 59th birthday. On a fast day, one full meal is allowed. Two other meals, enough to maintain strength, may be taken, according to each one’s needs, but together they not equal another full meal. Eating between meals is not permitted, but consuming liquids, including milk and juices, is allowed. GIVE: The season of Lent is a time for each of us to give to God. It's not all about giving something up, you can do things instead to bring you closer in your relationship with God. Don't promise to pray the Rosary daily, it's a difficult task, and if you are unable to do it every day, you get the feeling that you've failed. Don't promise anything too hard. It’s all about making time for God. Pray the Stations of the Cross with your faith community. Try to attend the Triduum before the Vigil. Take time to pray for the candidates and catechumens’ that will be embracing the Catholic faith. Make a special effort to invite someone that has been absent from the and bring them with you to Mass.

LENT PREPARES: How can I better prepare for Lent this year? You have no idea what God has in store for you this Lent (but God does, and he is looking forward to it!). On the other hand, you do know that God has chosen to work in our souls through the Liturgy, and that includes the liturgical seasons. So preparing for Lent means getting ready to hear and heed what God wants to say to you during those days. The Church gives us three general directives in this regard: Embrace the Cross, practice Christian charity, and intensify our prayer life. PRAY: Lent offers us all a very special opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and to deepen our commitment to a way of life, rooted in our baptism. In our busy world, Lent provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our patterns, to pray more deeply, experience sorrow for what we've done and failed to do, and to be generous to those in need. Intensify our prayer life. Start thinking now about how you can do this. It’s a good topic to talk about in spiritual direction. Do you need to increase your Eucharistic life, give more discipline to your personal prayer time, inculcate family prayer time, go on a retreat? God will put something on your heart. But be realistic. Don’t let your eyes be bigger than your stomach (in the spiritual sense). The Lenten season is a moment of grace for all of us to make a pilgrimage into our life, where we encounter the Lord and open our hearts to His infamous love. It can be an important moment in our journey. We face the reality that this journey is both deeply individual and one that we make together as a faith-filled community. In the forty days of this journey beginning on Ash Wednesday, we gather, in union with the Church throughout the world, to be marked with a cross of ashes. The ashes are a reminder of our mortality and a sign of our resolve to repent and live the more faithfully. This Lenten pilgrimage, which will lead the catechumens to rebirth in the waters of baptism, will prepare us to renew our own baptismal vows.

As we begin this journey of conversion, let us take courage from the Church’s scriptural proclamation of God’s mercy toward all. Let us find strength in God’s love for all creation and God’s willingness to overlook our sins and spare us, so that we may come to newness of life in the Father’s Risen Son. Following Jesus; we can be triumphant over all our temptations with the faith that we belong to Christ. Let us give ourselves, a time to reflect and meditate on the Word of God and convert to the Lord with great sincerity so that God will give the grace and courage to change our interior life to bear eternal life. Let each of us make a special effort to attend our planned services. Please bring family and friends and ask them to take part in as many faith enriching events as possible this Lent and believe that His Grace Will Lead Us Home. Let’s make this Holy Season of Lent a very special time for YOU and YOUR FAMILY.