This Wednesday 6th February is Ash Wednesday it is a day of fast and abstinence.   Masses will be at 7am 10am & 7.30pm.  Ashes will be distributed at all the Masses.

Masses for Lent

My dear People of Down and Connor,

As the priest blesses the ashes on Ash Wednesday he prays: "Lord, bless the sinner who asks for your forgiveness and bless all those who receive these ashes. May they keep this Lenten season in preparation for the joy of Easter". And as he places the ashes on our forehead he asks us to: "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel". Yes, Lent is a season of repentance leading us to the joy of Easter, as we pray in one of the Lenten Prayers: "Lead us through a Lent of repentance to the beauty of Easter joy". We all stand in need of God's forgiveness for our sins. In Lent we make a special effort to turn away from sin and to ask the Lord's forgiveness in a spirit of true repentance. It is in that spirit of repentance that we make the Lenten season a special time of prayer, of penance and of works of mercy. For prayer, penance and works of mercy are a unit, they go hand in hand. In the words of a fifth century saint, St. Peter Chrysologus: "They give life to one another, for fasting is the soul of prayer and mercy is the life of fasting". We should make a special effort to pray, to make time for prayer each day during Lent. The greatest prayer of all is the prayer of the Mass and very many people do make the effort, often at great sacrifice, to participate in Mass each day during the Lenten season. Penance is the soul of prayer and the penance of fasting is a time-honoured tradition in the Church, and we observe Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as particular days of fasting. I ask that we should all, in so far as our health and circumstances allow, observe a strict fast on Ash Wednesday and on the six Fridays of Lent. On those days we should fast from after breakfast until say 6.00 p.m. (taking only liquids in between those times). The evening meal should be a simple meal. If right across our diocese parishioners keep this fast it will be a striking witness of the solidarity of our diocese with the countless millions of really hungry people all over the world for whom every day of the year is a fast day and many die each day.

Those who suffer and die are our sisters and brothers in the human family and we should be generous in the extreme in our giving to the Trocaire Lenten Appeal. Our diocese contributed the extraordinarily generous sum of £¾ million last year to the Lenten Appeal. When you receive the ashes on Ash Wednesday you will be given a small prayer card which will ask you to commit yourself to prayer, fasting and almsgiving during Lent in preparation for the joy and grace of Easter. You will be making your Lenten commitment as part of our commitment as a diocese. Do sign this card and keep it in a prominent place in your home as a constant reminder that Lent is "a great season of grace, a gift from God, to renew us in spirit". (2nd Lenten Preface) May it be a season of grace, a time of renewal.

Yours sincerely

+ Patrick Walsh

The society is meeting on
Friday 8th February at 7.30pm
in the Colin Glen Trust.

All welcome