Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church

Dear Folks,

Lent is coming! Are you ready? And I’m not talking about your ability to eat too many tacos or pancakes on Tuesday!

1. Lenten penances and challenges! I think I use the same penances most years. Why? Because I find that they help me to **focus** on my primary faults. Giving up shaving is more of a marker of time than a real penance… but I do find it very penitential to have a beard by the time Lent is drawing to a close. Cutting back or eliminating electronics/screen time is another penance that most even modern Americans should embrace.

But as you plan to hit Lent running, don’t be afraid to give up the thing you least want to give up! That may be the Lord whispering in your soul to get your attention!

2. “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 Penances are useless without prayer. Yep, useless. How will you deepen your prayer life this Lent, and form habits that will extend into Ordinary Time and eternity? Make a plan, something achievable, and don’t despair that you might succeed for three days and fail for two. Three steps forward and two steps back still nets you one forward! Jesus is the master of the patient long game!

3. Bishop’s Lenten Appeal. Thank you for your support of this important appeal each year. Your generosity goes a long way to supporting so many worthy ministries in our diocese. In a time when we are all asking for greater accountability from Church hierarchy, know that this appeal provides direct assistance to many of our brothers and sisters and neighbors. It is not a collection for the bishop personally, but for the many works of charity that are carried out in his and our names!

There you go. Did you notice that those three are the classic prayer, fasting, and almsgiving? Timeless classics of the spiritual life. And one more expression of gratitude on the almsgiving side: thank you for your generous support of the Souper Bowl Drive. 1,353 total pounds
from the parish and school—fantastic! Thank you to all who helped and participated!

Oops, one more: did you see the notice in here for the Lenten Fish Taco Truck and mac-n-cheese? We are trying something different this year on two Lenten Fridays to offer something that might work for families… as we will subsidize the first 500 tacos each of those Fridays.

pax,

Father John Mosimann

Ash Wednesday is February 18.

Ash Wednesday is a obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence.

For members of the Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal. The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Catholic Church from age 14 onwards.

St Mary will distribute ashes at the following Masses on Wednesday February 18:

6:30am at St Mary

9am at St Mary

12pm at St Mary

4pm Latin Novus Ordo Mass at St Mary

4:30pm at Holy Cross Academy (250 Stafford Lakes Pkwy Fredericksburg VA 22406)

6pm at St Mary

6:30pm at Holy Cross Academy (250 Stafford Lakes Pkwy Fredericksburg VA 22406)

8pm Bilingual at St Mary

Dear Folks,

3 things this week connected with Lent coming soon.

1. Parish Lenten Mission

Back by popular demand is Fr. Jack Riley, the director of the diocesan retreat house and previous retreat master for or Lenten series. I hope you can join us, mark your calendars for our retreat Mon/Tues/Wed Feb 23, 24, & 25. Details in the bulletin.

2. Catholic Schools Week 2.0.

With concrete masquerading as ice and rendering many side streets impassable for a week, we had to push back many of our Catholic Schools week celebrations into this past week. I am often edified by the sacrifices that parents make to be able to provide a Catholic education for their children. And I am doubly edified by the support from all of the parishioners in the pews for our parish school, Holy Cross Academy! The generosity of the entire parish makes possible our works in Catholic education!

3. BLA!

Finally, this weekend we have our lay speakers for the Bishop’s Lenten Appeal as the appeal is kicking into gear. This year the emphasis is on parish participation, with the hope that all practicing families might be able to give something, according to thier capacity.

So many diocesan ministries are supported through funding generated by this annual appeal. The bulletin details some of these works, and speakers at Mass will encourage you to read the BLA materials and do what you are able!

pax,

Father John Mosimann

We will be having Religious Education classes on our normal schedule starting again tonight.