Ash Wednesday and Lent

Lent Has Begun, Here is Another Way to Help Others: Operation Rice Bowl

During Lent, we are called to pray, fast and give alms, so that we may prepare our hearts to receive full the joy of Easter.  Operation Rice Bowl is a great way to work on all three of those parts of Lent!  
If you or your family decide that a good thing to fast from would be those stops at McDonald's and those quick dinners before everyone scatters to their own corners of the house, you could use that to benefit others too.  The fasting (or refraining from) that McD's run will save you some money and that money could be put into the Operation Rice Bowl box. Now of course you still need to eat, but maybe instead of a quick meal, everyone helps to make dinner.  When you sit down to eat, you could pray together to thank God and to pray for those who are in need. If you did that once a week for the 6 weeks of Lent, just think of how much different your Lent will be! You will grow closer as a family, pray together, and help others ($20 per meal for a family x 6 weeks = $120).  The money raised through Operation Rice Bowl will go to feed the hungry in the US and around the world.  Now that is a life changing Lent!

Operation Rice Bowl boxes are due back oat our final classes on Tuesday, April 2nd and Sunday, April 7th.

Lent comes every year. It’s meant to be a time when we invite God to help us become the-best-version-of-ourselves. But for many of us, Lent isn’t a transformative experience. It’s just a time when we give up chocolate or something else we enjoy, then go back to it at Easter.

This year, you can change that with BEST LENT EVER. Each day of Lent, you’ll receive a short inspirational video that will help you find areas for growth, build better habits, and spark lasting change in your life. 

All you have to do is sign up at BestLentEver.com

Holy Week Reflections

What Happens During Holy Week





How to Make Holy Week Count

Operation Rice Bowl

A 7-minute Prayer Service

Leader: Forty days before Jesus died on the cross, He went into the desert and prayed.
He didn’t eat or do much other than pray; He used this time to focus on His relationship with God. Today, we too are called to focus on our relationship with God during the 40 days before Easter, a time known as Lent. Catholics do three traditional activities to grow closer to God during Lent: Pray, Fast and Give to those in need.

We pray to ask God how He wants us to serve. How does God want us to help other people? What kind of person is He calling us to be? In our prayer, we also thank Him for the gifts He has given us and we pray for the poor and vulnerable. During the season of Lent, we make an extra effort to talk to God and to listen to Him.
Find the Lenten prayer on the side of your Rice Bowls and pray aloud together.  (Read prayer together.)

Leader: Fasting means we give something up. We do this to help us recognize the difference between wants and needs, and to remove the things that may distract us from our relationship with God. Some people give up sweets or choose to drink only water during Lent. Choosing to live without these things reminds us that everything we have is a gift from God. Fasting also allows us to share in a small way the experience of people who are poor and hungry: people who often do not have luxuries to enjoy, clean water to drink or enough food to eat each day.
Consider for a moment: what do you want to fast from this Lent? Maybe your family wants to fast from something together. Write what you will give up on the panel on your Rice Bowl.
Another aspect of our Lenten fasting is not eating meat on Fridays. On your Lenten Calendars again there are meatless recipes from around the world. Ask your family to make one or more of these at home and taste the type of meals people from other countries enjoy.

Leader: During Lent, we give sacrificial donations to those in need. When we give to people less fortunate than we are, we honor Jesus’ call to serve our neighbors and to share the gifts we have been given.

·       Look at your Lenten Calendars again and find the pictures and stories from countries around the world. Each week of Lent, you will learn about someone whose life is better because of the money you put in your Rice Bowl.

·       Look at the panel on your Rice Bowl that says “Your Lenten gifts make a big difference.” These are examples of how your Lenten gifts really do make a difference in the world.

Leader: We pray that the stories, recipes and prayers on our Rice Bowls will help us to grow spiritually during this season of Lent. As we begin our 40 days of prayer, fasting and giving, let us ask God to bless these Rice Bowls and to strengthen us on our journey.  

Leader: Gracious God, as we begin our Lenten journeys today, fill us with Your spirit of renewal, humility and grace. Help us this Lent to let go of those things that weigh us down. May our prayers and sacrifices bring us closer to Your Son, Jesus. May our prayers and gifts bring life to our brothers and sisters who struggle with hunger and poverty. May we proclaim the dignity of life, and celebrate the witness of Your love each day. Bless these Rice Bowls as concrete symbols of our solidarity with all of Your children around the world.                                         Amen.

Why Do We Need the Season of Lent?

Lent begins on Wednesday, March 1

                          

During Lent, we are called to pray, fast and give alms, so that we may prepare our hearts to receive full the joy of Easter.  Operation Rice Bowl is a great way to work on all three of those parts of Lent!  If you or your family decide that a good thing to fast from would be those stops at McDonald's and those quick dinners before everyone scatters to their own corners of the house, you could use that to benefit others too.  The fasting (or refraining from) that McD's run will save you some money and that money could be put into the Operation Rice Bowl box. Now of course you still need to eat, but maybe instead of a quick meal, everyone helps to make dinner.  When you sit down to eat, you could pray together to thank God and to pray for those who are in need. If you did that once a week for the 6 weeks of Lent, just think of how much different your Lent will be! You will grow closer as a family, pray together, and help others ($20 per meal for a family x 6 weeks = $120).  The money raised through Operation Rice Bowl will go to feed the hungry in the US and around the world.  Now that is a life changing Lent!

We will be handing out Operation Rice Bowl boxes to all of our students on Sunday, March 5 and Tuesday, March 7.

Holy Week, The Triduum, & Easter

We hope you will join us in celebrating 
the Triduum and Easter Sunday

Holy Thursday

Mass of the Lord’s Supper at 7:30pm

Good Friday

The Seven Last Words – 2pm

The Passion of the Lord

Service at 7:30pm

Holy Saturday

Easter Vigil Mass

7:30pm

Easter Sunday

Masses at 7:30AM, 9:00AM, 10:30AM, 12 Noon

Our Lenten Journey

As the season of Lent draws to a close, we take a look back at the ways in which our students learned about the mercy of Christ and were able to grow in their faith.

In Kindergarten and Grade 1, the students have been learning their prayers and about all that God has done for us.

Our 2nd Graders are preparing for their First Holy Communion by working at home with their parents and in the classroom with their catechists. They have been learning about the parts of the Mass and about the amazing miracle that happens each time we come to the Eucharist.

The students in Grades 3, 4, 5, 7, & 8, all had the opportunity to receive God's mercy through the Sacrament of Penance. Fr. Trinidad visited each class to give a refresher course on the sacrament and then each of our students was able to go receive forgiveness for their sins and renew their relationship with Christ.  

And our 6th Graders continued their journey through the Bible and have learned about the history of our salvation with the Encounter Bible Study Series.

Operation Rice Bowl

In addition to the learning that has gone on in the classroom, each student received an Operation Rice Bowl to take home. Each student was asked to use these boxes as a way to help give to those who are in need of food in our country and in our world.  The money that is raised by our students will go to Catholic Relief Services, which is one of the largest relief agencies in the world.  We hope that everyone of our Religious Education families can help us to accomplish this Corporal Work of Mercy and feed the hungry.  The Rice Bowls should be returned at our final class in April.

Religious Education Classes

Sunday, March 20 - Religious Education Class

Tuesday, March 22 - Religious Education Class

Sunday, March 27 - No Class

Tuesday, March 29 - No Class

Thursday, March 31 - Confirmation Class

Sunday, April 3 - Final Sunday Class

Tuesday, April 5 - Final Tuesday Class

Registration for 2016-17 Religious Education

During our final classes (April 3 & 5), registration forms for the 2016-17 school year will be distributed.  Please be sure to take home your family packet, so that your children can continue their journey of faith.  During each year of Religious Education, we look to deepen the faith of our students and provide opportunities for them to experience God's love, peace and joy.  If you know of anyone who has children who have been away from religious education, invite them to speak to a priest, Kristen or Anthony to find out how they can get back into the program and continue their faith journey.

LENT: PRAYER, FASTING, & ALMSGIVING

Want to learn more about Lent, check out this video from our Lego friends on what we are called to do as Catholics.

Ash Wednesday & Lent in Two Minutes

Holy Week - We are Peter!

As we enter into Holy Week, we again hear the Gospel of the Lord's Passion on Palm Sunday. It could be very easy for us to go on auto-pilot during this reading because it so familiar to us, but as I listen to the words from the Gospel of Mark this year, the person who stands out to me is the disciple, Peter.  

The most headstrong of Jesus' disciples, falls asleep three different times after Jesus asks him to keep watch and pray. Peter then runs away as Jesus is arrested and led off to the the high priest. We then hear that "Peter followed him at a distance" to the high priest courtyard and awaits to see what happens to his friend. When Peter is confronted by some bystanders and accused of knowing Jesus, he denies that he knows Him three times. In a short period of time, 

Peter falls asleep when Jesus is in anguish, abandons Jesus when He is arrested, keeps his distance from Him as He is falsely accused and then denies Him when others ask about Him. 

While it may be easy to look down on Peter for all of these actions, I think this Gospel is instead a reminder to each of us that, we are Peter. How often do we focus and succumb to our own needs as Peter did when he falls asleep? How often do we choose to run away from doing what is right?  How often do we follow Jesus at a distance? How often do we deny that we know Jesus by our words and actions?  We are Peter!!! And while dwelling on those actions could cause us to weep as Peter did, we don't have to choose despair, because we are offered Holy Week. 

Holy Week offers us the opportunity to prepare our hearts by seeking the mercy and love of Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, following Jesus' example of service and receiving His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist on Holy Thursday and praying and placing ourselves, our joys and sorrows, at the foot of the Cross on Good Friday. 

If we allow ourselves to truly experience this Holy Week, we too will find ourselves running, as Peter did, to find out the Good News of Easter.