Banner

Lent

The Season of Lent began as a short (perhaps only two or three days) time of fasting before Easter. By the Council of Nicaea (325) a fast of forty days was a fixture of the Church, though it may originally have been the prescribed fast only for those seeking baptism at the Great Vigil of Easter. When the season became more widely established, as the Prayer Book tells us, "Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism," and "a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church." (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 265)

The character of the season of Lent is still marked by the practices of fasting and abstinence. While the Anglican Lenten tradition isn't as strict as that of the Roman or the Eastern Churches, the Prayer Book does list Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as fast days (usually recognized as one light, meatless meal in the day) and says that, along with these two days, the weekdays of Lent and Holy Week are to be observed by special acts of discipline and self-denial (BCP 17—and see page 4 of the current issue of The Dove). In addition it is still customary to "give something up for Lent."

I commend these practices to you this season as well as the traditional practices of increased almsgiving, prayer, worship (a simple Low Mass on the Tuesdays in Lent at 6:00 pm and on Thursdays at Noon before the Lenten series will be offered an opportunity for increasing worship), and spiritual reading (especially of Holy Scripture). The latter could be Lenten devotional books and/or the Gospel of John (traditionally read in its entirety this season) or anything that deepens your spiritual life.

Lent culminates in Holy Week, which includes Palm Sunday, the Triduum and finally Easter Sunday. The rites of this week are attested as early as the fourth century in the work of Egeria. The Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil of Easter) is the great series of ancient rites of the Church (which include such things as footwashing, the stripping of the altar, the watch before the Blessed Sacrament, the adoration of the cross, and the lighting of the Paschal Candle, the movement from darkness to light) in which we participate in the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord.

May we all have a holy and fruitful Lent as we prepare to celebrate the great good news of Easter.

Pax Christi,

Father Rhodes
<
March
>
S M T W T F S
28 1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31 1 2 3

March 10, 2010

Healing Mass

Morning Prayer 9 am
Low Mass with Holy Unction 9:15 am

March 11, 2010

Lenten Series

The 4 Practices: Worship, Community, Formation and Mission
Thursdays in Lent: March 11, 18, 25
Mass: Noon
Brown Bag Lunch and Program: 12:45 pm

March 12, 2010

Way (Stations) of the Cross

Join in this tradition Lenten Devotion 6:00 pm

March 13, 2010

Daylight Savings Time Begins

Set your clocks ahead one hour before retiring. Aargh...

March 14, 2010

Fourth Sunday in Lent

Morning Prayer 7:45 am
Low Mass with Hymns 8 am
Sung Mass with Choir and Incense 10 am
Fellowship and Adult Forum after 10 am Mass

March 16, 2010

Lenten Series

The 4 Practices: Worship, Community, Formation and Mission
Tuesdays in Lent: March 16, 23
Mass: 6 pm
Simple Supper and Program: 6:45 pm

March 17, 2010

Healing Mass

Morning Prayer 9 am
Low Mass with Holy Unction 9:15 am

March 18, 2010

Lenten Series

The 4 Practices: Worship, Community, Formation and Mission
Thursdays in Lent: March 18, 25
Mass: Noon
Brown Bag Lunch and Program 12:45 pm

March 21, 2010

Fifth Sunday in Lent

Morning Prayer 7:45 am
Low Mass with Hymns 8 am
Sung Mass with Choir and Incense and the Presentation of the Lord’s Prayer 10 am
Fellowship and Adult Forum after 10 am Mass

March 23, 2010

Lenten Series

The 4 Practices: Worship, Community, Formation and Mission
Tuesdays in Lent: March 23
Mass: 6 pm
Simple Supper and Program 6:45 pm

March 24, 2010

Healing Mass

Morning Prayer 9 am
Low Mass with Holy Unction 9:15 am

March 25, 2010

Lenten Series

The 4 Practices: Worship, Community, Formation and Mission
Thursdays in Lent: March 25
Mass: Noon
Brown Bag Lunch and Program 12:45 pm

March 26, 2010

Way (Stations) of the Cross

Join in this tradition Lenten Devotion 6:00 pm

March 28, 2010

The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday

Morning Prayer 7:45 am
Low Mass 8 am
Solemn Mass with the Blessing of the Palms, Procession and the Proclamation of the Passion Narrative 10:00 am

March 31, 2010

Healing Mass

Morning Prayer 9 am Low Mass with Holy Unction 9:15 am

April 1, 2010

Maundy Thursday

The Mass of the Lord’s Supper with Foot Washing, Stripping of the Altar and Reservation of the Sacrament on the Altar of Repose 8:00 pm

April 2, 2010

Good Friday

Proper Liturgy of Good Friday with Veneration of the Cross and Communion from the Reserved Sacrament 8:00 pm

April 3, 2010

The Great Vigil of Easter

Lighting of the Great Fire, the Blessing of the Paschal Candle, Holy Baptism and the First Holy Eucharist of Easter 8:00 pm

April 4, 2010

The Sunday of the Resurrection: Easter Day

Morning Prayer 7:45 am
Low Mass with Hymns 8 am
Procession and Solemn Mass of the Resurrection 10 am