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February 12, 2021Ash Wednesday, February 17th, 2021
Ashes will be distributed at all Services
8am Morning Mass – Fr. Jerry
12noon – Liturgy of the Word – Deacon Hosea
6pm Sung Mass – Fr. Jerry
We soon will enter the Season of Lent during an extraordinary time as we continue to face the pandemic which has caused so much suffering already. In some ways, it is itself a penance as is all suffering if we can unite it to the sufferings of Christ as we live in hope for the victory of the Resurrection.
Ash Wednesday is one of two yearly days of obligatory fasting and abstinence for Roman Catholics, along with Good Friday. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the norms of fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. Fasting means a person is permitted to eat one full meal. Two smaller meals may also be taken, but they are not to equal that of a full meal. All who have reached their 14th birthday are bound to abstain totally from meat on all the Fridays of Lent, which given the fact that we live on an island with lots and lots of seafood available and pizza from the Poo is not asking a whole lot of self-denial from anyone.
Look for the full Lenten schedule in Tuesday’s notes. The School for Disciples will not meet this Wednesday but starting on February 24th at 5:30, we will be meeting all the Wednesdays of Lent, including March 17th to share our experience of the Best Lent Ever. Nothing will transform your life so completely, absolutely, and forever like really learning how to pray. That’s why this year’s BEST LENT EVER journeys through Matthew Kelly’s latest book, I Heard God Laugh: A Practical Guide to Life’s Essential Daily Habit. So many of you have told me how life changing you’ve found this book to be.
The Best Lent Ever is a free Lenten program. Beginning on Ash Wednesday and continuing through all forty days of Lent, you will receive a daily email with a short video to help you reconnect with yourself and your God. You can sign up for this program at Dynamic Catholic:
https://www.dynamiccatholic.com/lent/best-lent-ever.html#form-signup. All are welcome to join the School for Disciples discussion of this program. If you are interested, please try to see me before Ash Wednesday to get a Best Lent Ever Journal. And take home any of the Lenten devotional resources that are available at the Church entrances today or if your still CoVid homebound call the office on Monday and I’ll try to get the resources to you.
Regretfully, negotiations with TIMA to approve of their expanding to a Middle School have not gone well. Our Parish Leadership was willing to compromise on the amount of rental increase, but TIMA’s negotiator was not willing to compromise on allowing us to have easier access to our gym. This impasse in some ways hurts our mission as a faith community but in other ways it has forced us to be creative in that mission and so St. Michael Night Out was born. As landlords we could continue to play hardball but to be honest our tenants are better players. As Christians we need to be more concerned about trying to live out Gospel values than the need to press for the best business deal. So, the Pastoral Council after some prayer and some angst has agreed to accept TIMA’s terms. I will ask the Bishop to sign the addendum to our lease that allows TIMA to place a larger classroom building on our property. I am grateful to Carolyn Williams, Chair of the Pastoral Council, and Mark Schroder, Chair of the Finance Council, for their efforts in this matter. Hopefully, in the near future members of our Pastoral Council can meet with the TIMA Governing Board so that we can move forward in a positive relationship with our tenant.
Taking the Gospel Home: “Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, ‘I do will it. Be made clean.’” Are you moved with pity in any of the “unclean” situations we are experiencing in our world: Pandemic? Climate crises? Racial injustice? Trafficking? Is there anything you can do to aid Jesus with the cleansing? How about contributing to the Annual Catholic Appeal so that we can train more great deacons like Kevin Knight? Thank you, Deacon Kevin! Thank you, Fr. Joe Smith, for celebrating the Vigil Mass.
