February 27, 2022, Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

REPENT AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL: Ashes will be blessed and distributed at the Masses on Ash Wednesday at 8:30 AM. 12 noon and 5:30 PM, and also at a Word Service at 7 PM. Packets of blessed Ashes will be available to be picked up at the sanctuary step after the 8:30 AM Mass and throughout the day for those who must still be cautious of gathering in crowds.

LENT: March 2nd – April 14th: The annual Season of Lent is one with which we are all familiar with its penitential character of being a time to “give up” and go without. As children, it usually meant no candy or ice cream, or no Saturday outings to the movies or other shows until Easter. While that sort of sacrifice is not inappropriate for children, nor in expanded ways for adults, it can amount to being just self-imposed hardship that is easily abandoned before 40 days are over if we don’t remind ourselves of the reason why we embrace this sort of self-denial! Indeed, Lent has its roots both in the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, and the public penance rituals that have their origins in the 4th Century.

For those who were preparing to be initiated into the Church at Easter through the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist, the final weeks before that initiation was a time of more intense spiritual preparation which always included prayer and fasting. Thus as more and more were initiated at Easter each year, Lent became a time for those already initiated to revisit their own formation and to prepare themselves to renew their baptismal promises at Easter with renewed integrity. So we might especially call upon those who have been initiated during past Easters through the RCIA to use Lent as a time to reclaim their initial enthusiasm and thus to prepare to joyfully celebrate the anniversary of their initiation as they witness the initiation of others this Easter. For those of us baptized as infants who sometimes are unaware of the actual date of our baptisms, we too are invited to designate Easter as the annual reminder of that fateful day when our very being and thus identity was changed by the sacramental grace that made us newborn children of God. Thus it is only right that we accompany those now preparing for their fast-approaching initiation by setting the best of examples for them as we spend Lent repenting, that is, thinking again about what it means and requires of us to be a fully initiated member of the Body of Christ. Doing so often uncovers for us the ways in which we have failed to live up to that calling, and thus appropriately we are invited to confess those failings and then to do penance by means of self-denial for the 40 days of Lent as a way to make amends for our failures. So for those already baptized this is a most appropriate time to experience the sacrament that is sometimes rightly referred to as “Second Baptism” which is the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but perhaps to do so as Lent begins so that we might receive the Ashes on Wednesday as a sign of repentance with greater integrity, and then proceed to accept the forty days of sacrifice and self-denial as penance in reparation for our sins. For those placed under a prescribed period of penance during the first millennia, it was when Lent concluded at sunset on Holy Thursday, that their time of separation from the whole assembly ended so they could put aside their sackcloth and ashes and be allowed to rejoin their brothers and sisters in the nave of the church as they were absolved and readmitted to the sacramental life of the church. So that is why there is the custom of Shrove Tuesday, that is, of confessing one’s sins on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, and then accepting the disciplines of Lent like a true penitent until Holy Thursday evening. Confessions on this Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, will be held from 3 PM to 6 PM in the church, affording all the opportunity to come forward to receive Ashes on the following day not as a sign void of meaning but as an authentic penitent, who has acknowledged their failings and is ready to pray, fast, and give alms for 40 days in reparation!

Tune In: Boston Catholic Television will be airing the first two seasons of THE CHOSEN, a highly acclaimed depiction of the life and ministry of Jesus. This series, otherwise, mainly available by using an app on one’s phone, will be able to be more easily accessed as it is broadcast by BCT.

TAIZE As a way to initiate the prayerful spirit of the Lenten Season the meditative music of Taizé will be offered at St John Neumann Church in East Freetown on Sunday Evening March 6th at 7 PM. This service is without charge and is open to the public; a free-will offering will be accepted.

A Feast Amid the Fast: St Patrick’s Day will be anticipated in a special feast of traditional Irish music and dance to be presented at High Field Hall in Falmouth on Sunday, March 13th at 4 PM. Tickets for nonmembers are $20 and can be obtained by calling 508-495-1878