Ash Wednesday

 

ASH WEDNESDAY
Ash Wednesday is a day of universal fast and abstinence in the Church.  In our Parish we have Ashes blessed and distributed all through the day during the celebration of Masses and para liturgies.  Almost every hour we have either a Mass or a para-liturgy celebrated:
                                                               Schedule  Of  Services
        7:30am Mass in English
        9:00am Mass in English
        11:00am Para Liturgy
        12 noon  Mass in English
        2:30pm Para Liturgy
        4:00pm Para Liturgy 
        5:15pm Mass in English 
        6:30pm Misa en Español

Ashes are blessed and imposed after the homily. These ashes are of branches of the olive tree, or according to custom, of the palm tree or other trees, which have been blessed the previous year
The intention behind this ceremony is “Repentance and Conversion from Sin”. This ceremony initiates the season of Lent. Lent is a time of great prayer and fervent devotion. It is a time marked with earnest efforts at peacemaking throughout the world. It is a time of being generous in almsgiving and self-giving to the poor. It is a time to pray that God will repair all the broken relationships in our life, and make us merciful, gentle and forgiving.
The Formulae for the imposition of Ashes:
  • Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel, or
  • Remember, you are dust and to dust you will return.
GENERAL NORMS 
All the faithful who have made First Communion are bound to worthily (celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation) receive Holy Communion during the Easter season. 
ON ABSTINENCE
Everyone fourteen years of age and older is bound to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, the Fridays of Lent and Good Friday.
AND   FAST
Everyone eighteen years of age or older but under the age of sixty is also bound to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
 
  • On these two days, the law of fast allows only one full meal a day, but does not prohibit taking some food during the day, so long as this does not constitute another full meal.
  • Drinking fluids during the day is permitted.
  • When health or ability to work would be seriously affected, the law does not oblige.
  • In doubt concerning fast or abstinence, you may consult any of the priests assigned in the parish or your confessor.
 
In the spirit of penance, the faithful should not lightly excuse themselves from this obligation.
After forty days of fasting and prayer, Jesus becomes fully aware of what is truly essential in life. He strides out of wilderness and says to us:
“Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”
Fortified by His fasting against human tendency to lose track of the essentials, He urgently sets before us the one thing necessary for us: reconciliation with our merciful Father.
Some suggested resources:
 
 

 

 

 

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