Fr. Joe Durkacz will celebrate Ash Wednesday Masses on Wednesday, March 5, 2025
8:30am in the chapel
12:00 Noon in the main church (School Mass, all welcome)
6:00pm in the main church
Ash Wednesday invites us into
almsgiving, prayer and fasting,
the three traditional Lenten
practices that can draw us into a
deeper relationship with the Lord.
The command of the Gospel is to give alms, pray and fast in ways that only God can see. “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” It can be difficult in our complicated lives to set aside time for prayer, and yet prayer is the essential element that guides and sanctifies our fasting and our almsgiving. There are a variety of ways to pray, and the weeks of Lent are a good time to explore a new practice or to renew an old familiar one. The Lord’s invitation is extended to each one of us.
Accept this invitation.
*We are obliged to join the Church around the world in fast and abstinence on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday.
The Disciplines of Fasting and Abstaining
Fasting from food means that one full meal and two small meals may be eaten on prescribed days (no snacking). These days are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Those between the age of 18 and 60 are required to observe.
Abstaining from meat binds those 14 years - 60 years of age. In Canada the two mandatory days of abstinence are Ash Wednesday & Good Friday. In the USA every Friday is a mandatory day of abstinence.
Exemptions to the above are those who are very young, the aged, the seriously ill, pregnant women. Please, do not observe these disciplines if it causes you to be sick or prevents you from fulfilling your daily duties. Lent begins Ash Wednesday and ends Holy Thursday. Sundays are not part of Lent. You may relax your penance this day and resume on Monday.