No, you can’t avoid it any longer. Lent is almost here, just days away. No more Ordinary time for many weeks! This coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting and abstinence. We will be offering three Masses on Ash Wednesday with an additional Mass offered during the lunch hour. Our Lenten Friday nights will once again have Lenten talks by our priests and deacons followed by the Stations of the Cross. A full schedule is included in today’s bulletin for all of Lent, including Holy Week. Please join us as we begin another season of Lent.
This upcoming season of Lent is, as always, a good time to examine our spiritual life. It’s a time to see where we are and also a time to allow ourselves to set aside additional moments to pray, to read, and to contemplate how we can change our lives to become closer to Christ. On this final weekend before Lent, it’s encouraged to start thinking about all these things and how we would like the days of Lent to strengthen our relationship with God. Several Kalamazoo area Penance services will be offered on various days during Lent. Also, don’t forget our regular time for Confessions on Saturday mornings from 11 AM to Noon that we offer throughout the year.
I also wanted to make you aware of something special this coming Lent. We will be hosting one of the Bishop’s Stational Masses here at St. Catherine. This is an old church tradition that dates back to the 4th Century. In keeping with this tradition, Bishop Lohse will be going around to several churches in the Diocese throughout Lent each week. We will host this during the third week of Lent. Watch for additional information about this Mass and I hope that you might be interested in joining us for this special Lenten time of prayer.
During these upcoming days, all of us are invited to pray for those who will be receiving the Sacraments at the Easter Vigil: Our Catechumens and Candidates. They will be preparing to meet the Bishop next weekend on Sunday the 22nd of February at the Cathedral for the Rite of Election.