From the Director of Sacred Music & Liturgy - February

Greetings, brothers and sisters in Christ!

This month, we wrap up Ordinary Time and begin the season of Lent. This penitential season begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts for approximately 40 days (not counting Sundays). It is marked by the three pillars of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

Regarding Ash Wednesday, the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has released special guidelines for how the distribution of ashes is to take place in light of the pandemic. Rather than using ashes to make the Sign of the Cross on each person’s forehead, the minister will instead sprinkle a small amount of ash on each head. This method of receiving ashes is rather foreign to us, but it is both biblical (see Nehemiah 9:1) and customary in other parts of the world (such as in Europe). In light of the fact that the ashes will be sprinkled, I would advise you against wearing light-colored clothing!

As he has in past years, Fr. Terry will again be celebrating Mass ad orientem (facing liturgical east) on Fridays during Lent. If you have never experienced this, I invite you to consider making daily Mass on Fridays part of your Lenten observance. The experience of the priest and people both turned toward the Lord helps us to deepen our prayer and reminds us that we all—priest and faithful alike—are part of the same Body of Christ, focused on our Eucharistic Lord and imploring His mercy in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.